The Doctor's Girl
by Sanura Bey
Summary: Mum always said my curiosity would take me places, all I had to do was wait. She was right, I just needed the right Doctor. Everyone thinks they now the story of my family, but they left out one peice. My name is Ashlee Tyler, and this is our story. **Spans 9/10/11**
1. Ashlee

**So I want to apologize to those who had read this before I realised what was wrong with it. I hope you can forgive me. Please enjoy this revised version. :)**

* * *

Ashlee

At 7:30 the alarm went off telling me it was time to start another boring day. I got up, got dressed, brushed my long black curly hair, and put on some light eye make-up around my light gray eyes before leaving my room to meet Rose at the door. Rose picked up her bag, gives mum a peck on the cheek and grabbed our keys.

"Bye!" we called to her.

"See you later!" We ran down the stairs of the block of flats where we lived to catch the bus. At Henricks, the shop where both Rose and I worked, Rose worked on the floor putting things away while I worked behind a desk helping customers look for what they needed. Yes, it is as boring as it sounds. During our lunch hour, Rose, Mickey and I sat next to a fountain, having a laugh, eating, teasing each other. Then we got up to leave, saying goodbye to each other.

"This is a customer announcement: the store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you." The announcement came over the intercom. Finally, the day was almost over all I had to do was take the lottery money to Wilson then Rose and I could go home. The security guard handed me the package with the money in it.

"You want me to come with you?" Rose asked me.

"Nah, just go wait at the bus stop, I'll meet you there in five minutes. Don't leave without me!" We laughed as we went our separate ways.

When the lift pinged, signaling I was in the basement, I had expected Wilson to meet me as he always did. Something about this place had always scared me.

"Wilson?" I called out. When I received no answer I went farther down the corridor. "Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson?" I knocked on Wilson's door. "You there? Look, I can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop. Wilson!" I looked at my watch, knowing I was going to be late for the last bus at this rate. I pulled out my phone and text Rose to go ahead and leave. There wasn't much since in both of us walking the long way. Suddenly, a sound was made further along the corridor. I immediately looked in that direction.

"Hello? Hello, Wilson, it's Ashlee. Hello? Wil-Wilson?" I stopped outside a fire door for a moment, and then opening it, finding myself in a room that looked as though it was used for storing the shop dummies. I turned the light on and walked further into the room.

"Wilson? Wilson?" I tried another door on the side, when the door I entered in slammed shut. Shocked, I ran back and shook the handle, but it wouldn't open again. I turned my head to look behind me as I heard a small sound.

"Is that someone mucking about?" I went back into the dummy room. "Who is it?" I turned around just in time to see a dummy step out of its alcove and towards me. I back away slowly. "Heh… you got me, very funny." The dummy said nothing and didn't stop advancing. Then two more joined in. "Right, I've got the joke! Who's idea was this? Was it Derek's?" the dummies still advanced, another coming from behind me. "Derek, is this you?!" All the dummies were now alive. I backed up, away from them and tripped over a box. I quickly pull myself up again and back against the wall. The dummy in front of me lifted its arm to strike. I closed my eyes ready for the blow to hit me, when a hand grabbed mine. I opened my eyes and snapped my head to look at the owner of the hand.

"Run was all the strange man said. We ran, just in time, through a fire exit. The dummies were in pursuit. The man led me into a lift . The doors closed as one of the dummies slammed its arm in between the doors but the man pulled it off then the doors closed.

"You pulled his arm off!" I yelled at him. What if a person had been in there?

"Yep!" he tossed me the arm. "Plastic." He said it like it explained everything to me.

"Very clever, nice trick! Who were they then? Employees? Is this a coworker thing?" I asked him.

"Why would it be your coworkers? Did you do something to them to make them angry? He asked turning slightly as though to get a better look at me.

"I don't know…".

"Well you said it! Why employees?"

"Cause… to get that many people dressed up and being silly… they gotta be employees playing a trick on me. They all know I don't like it down here, so that would be a good way of getting me to laugh every time I was here." I explained. The man just grinned at me.

"That makes since! Well done!" he turned back around to face the door.

"Thanks." I smiled at him.

"They're not your coworkers." He sounded serious.

"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gunna call the police." I told him.

"Who's Wilson." He turned back to me confused.

"Chief electrician."

"Wilson's dead." He stepped out of the lift with me following me.

"What?"

"Hold on!" he said pushing me to the side. "Mind your eyes." He did something to the lift then walked away.

"Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?" I ran to catch up with him.

"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a rely device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He showed me an electronic device. "So!" he opened the fire exit for me. "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might die in the process. But don't worry about me, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast." I went through the door looking back at him. "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." I nodded my head as he shut the door behind him. I turned away to go home, shocked by all I had learned, when the door opened again.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way, what's your name?"

"Ashlee."

"Nice to meet you, Ashlee. Run for your life." He shut the door again and I ran. I was so distracted I nearly got myself run over by a taxi as I ran. I was just so focused on trying to get as far away as possible from the building. As I looked back one last time, I saw the top floor blow up. I then ran home.

At home News 24 was on the television. Mum was on the phone talking to someone and Rose was sitting on the edge of the sofa, watching the report. I walked in just in time to hear the reporter.

"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. Earlier reports in the…" I tossed the dummy arm onto the chair next to Rose as mum walked in holding a phone to her ear.

"I know, it's on the telly! It's everywhere! We're still waiting to…" when she saw me she dropped the phone a held me as close as she could. Rose jumped up making it a family hug.

"I'll go and make you some tea, okay sweetheart?" I just nodded my head. She picked up the phone and continued talking about my luck at having been able to walk in the door. Rose took me over to the sofa and held me gently as though I would break. She kept asking me questions about what had happened and I kept avoiding them. When mum came back she handed me the mug.

"Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was HER daughter! Oh, and here's himself…" Rose and I looked at the doorway to see Mickey.

"I've been phoning your mobile, you could've been dead! It's on the news and everything! I can't believe that your shop went up!" he told Rose puller her into a hug away from me.

"I'm alright, honestly, I'm fine! Don't make a fuss. Besides, Ash was there, not me." She told him making them both look at me.

"Well, what happened?" he asked me.

"I don't know." I told him.

"What was it though, what caused it?" he kept pestering me.

"I wasn't in the shop, I was outside. I didn't see anything…" I told him remembering what the Doctor told me about getting people killed if I told them anything. That was when Mum walked in holding the phone to me.

"It's Debbie on the other end, she knows a man from the Mirror – five hundred quid for an interview!"

"Oh that's brilliant! Give it here!" I grabbed it and hung up on Debbie.

"Well, you've gotta find some way of making money. Both your jobs are kaput and I'm not bailing you out." The phone rang again. "Beth! She's alive!" mum answered it leaving the room. "I tell ya, sue for compensation! They were within seconds of death…"

"What are you drinking? Tea? No, no, no good, that's no good. You're in shock, you need something stronger." Mickey said taking my mug away.

"Why" I asked, wanting my mug back. I wasn't really drinking the tea but it was something to hold on to so my hands didn't fidget.

"You deserve a proper drink, you, me and Rose, we're going down the pub, my treat. How about it?" Mickey said pulling Rose up and holding his hand for me.

"Is there a match on?" Rose asked smiling while I just stared at his hand.

"I'm just thinking about you and your sister, babe!" Rose kept smiling at him and I shifted my eyes to the telly, watching the news about Henricks hoping the Doctor made it out.

"There's a match on, ain't there." She kept smiling at him, doing there cuddly couple.

"Well, that's not the point. We could catch the last five minutes." He almost begged.

"Go on then. I'm fine, really. Go. Get rid of that..." she gestured to the arm I had thrown on the chair. Mickey pointed to his lips and Rose gave him a kiss. He pushed her back onto the sofa next to me and they laugh. He got up to go and Rose put a leg out to trip him up. When he righted himself Mickey picked up the arm and waved at us with it.

"Buh Bye!"

"Bye!" Rose said while I just waved. Mickey pretended to strangle himself with the arm then left. Rose shook her head fondly and turned her attention back to the news.

"...fire then spread throughout the store... there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure..." Not to long later I went to bed, dreaming about the strange man with his leather jacket.

The next morning at 7:30 my alarm went. I turned it off and sat up in my red sheeted bed.

"There's no point in getting up, sweetheart. You've got no job to go to." Mum called to both me and Rose. I went ahead and got up and put on a red tank with black pants. I went ahead and pulled on my black heeled boots. I calmed my mane and put on my eye make-up. I went to have breakfast in the living room while mum spoke to both Rose and myself.

"There's Finches... you could try them. They've always got jobs." Mum tried

"Oh, great. The butchers." Rose said.

"Well it might do you good! That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about getting compensation - you've had genuine shock and trauma! Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek! I know she IS Greek, but that's not the point - it's a valid claim." Mum said walking to her room to get dressed.

I turned when I heard and stood up heading to the door.

"Mum, you're such a liar, I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays!" Rose told her.

"I did it weeks back!" mum called back.

"No, you thought about it!" I told her

I saw the screws had fallen onto the floor. Then the cat flap moved, violently. I jumped from the shock, and then poked the cat flap open to see who was on the other side only to I see the Doctor's face. I gasped and opened the door.

"What're you doing here?" he asked me.

"I live here." I told him like it should have been obvious.

"Well, what do you do that for?" he asked me.

"Because I do! And I'm only at home because someone blew up my job." I reminded him. The Doctor pulled out this silver rod that made a whirring sound.

"Must've got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" He knocked on my forehead. "No, bonehead. Bye, then!" He made to go, but I pulled him back inside.

"You, inside. Right now." I shut the door behind us.

"Who is it?" mum asked me. I poked my head into mum's bedroom.

"It's about last night, he's part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes."

"She deserves compensation." Mum told him when I left her doorway.

"Huh, we're talking millions." The Doctor told her.

"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?" I asked him when I saw him in the living room.

"Ash who's he?" Rose asked me.

"Might as well, thanks! Just milk." He smiled at me from our little window into the kitchen.

"Rose could you put a pot on? Please, and close the door and window. Thanks." Rose went into the kitchen and started making coffee with a look on her face.

"So what happened last night? How did you get out?" The Doctor picked up a gossip magazine.

"That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien."

"Look, I'm not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong." I told him. The Doctor picked up a book and flicked through it.

"Sad ending." He tossed it back down.

"They said on the news they'd found a body, was that Wilson's?" The Doctor picked up an envelope and read it.

"Ashlee Tyler." He looked in mirror. "Ahh, could've been worse!" he proded his large ears "Look at me' ears."

"All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke. You act as though you've never seen yourself in a mirror." The Doctor shuffled a pack of cards.

"Luck be a lady!" he said looking at me. I just smiled at him. The Doctor shuffled the cards again and manages to make them all go flying.

"Maybe not."

"I want you to explain everything." I told him sitting on the arm of the chair.

We heard scuffling from behind sofa.

"What's that then? You got a cat?"

"No..." I told him. "We did have, but there's these strays, the come in off the estate." The Doctor leans behind the sofa and the dummy's arm leaps out and grabs him by the neck. "Oh, my God." I grabbed the arm trying to pull it off. Rose choose that time to wander in with the coffee. Behind her, the Doctor was being strangled viciously by the hand while we tried in vain to fight it off. Rose didn't quite seem to register that the Doctor was being harassed by the rubber hand.

"I told Mickey to chuck that out..." She said putting the coffee down on the table. "Honestly, give a man a plastic hand, I'm surprised you're playing with it, Ash... anyway, I don't even know your name... what was it?"

The Doctor threw the hand off and it flies across the room attaching itself to my face. I screamed and the Doctor and Rose leaped up and tried to pull it off. The Doctor, Rose and I crash onto the coffee table, breaking it, and roll onto the floor. The Doctor pushed Rose back onto the sofa and gets out his silver tube, disabling the hand.

"It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go, you see?" he tossed it to her. "'Armless." I started laughing at him.

"Do you think?" I said in between giggles. Rose used the arm to whack him on the shoulder.

"Ow!" he rubbed his now sore shoulder. The Doctor then walked out and started running down the stairs, Rose and I right behind him.

"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off." I called to him.

"Yes I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya!" he said waving back at us.

"That arm was moving, it tried to kill my sister!" Rose yelled at him.

"Ten out of ten for observation."

"You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell me what's going on." I said walking close to him.

"No I don't." we reached the bottom of the stairs and went through the doors.

"Alright then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone." Rose threatened.

"Rose if you do that, people could die." I told her.

"So, his choice. Tell us, or I'll start talking." I looked at her in shock.

"Is that supposed to sound tough?" The Doctor asked her.

"Sort of." Rose answered

"Doesn't work." He started walking off again.

"Who are you?" I asked as we followed again.

"I told you! The Doctor." He sounded like he was tired of saying his title.

"Yeah. But Doctor what?" I asked.

"Just the Doctor."

"The Doctor?"

"Hello!"

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose asked him.

"Sort of."

"Come on. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?" I asked

"No. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home." He sounded sad when he spoke of his home.

"But what has Ash done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after Ashlee?"

"Oh! Suddenly the entire world revolves around your sister! You were just an accident, you got in the way, that's all.

"It tried to kill her!" she said

"It was after me, not her! Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered it. Almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down... the only reason it fixed on you is that you met me." He told me.

"So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you." I told him.

"Sort of, yeah."

"You're full of it!" I told him smiling.

"Sort of, yeah." He said smiling back.

"But, all this plastic stuff - who else knows about it?" I asked.

"No one."

"What, you're on your own?" I frowned at him.

"Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!" I took the arm off him.

"Okay, start from the beginning. If you're gonna go with this living plastic how did you kill it?" I asked him.

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."

"So that's radio control?" Rose asked. I had forgotten she was here.

"Thought control. Are you alright?" he looked over to me worried.

"Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?" I asked.

"Long story."

"But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies... what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" We all laughed at Rose's comment. Who would want to take over our shops?

"No." The Doctor laughed out.

"I know." I told him laughing. "It's not a price war." We started laughing again but quit when he turned serious. "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me."

"No." we said.

"But you're still listening." We stopped walking which didn't stop him at all. I ran to catch him again.

"Really though, Doctor. Tell me – who are you?" I asked once more. This time, the Doctor stopped and turned to me.

"Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" he walked back to us. "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quiet believe it because everything looks like it's standing still, I can feel it." He took my hand in his, and it felt right. The heat from his hand burned my own, but I didn't care. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…" he let go of my hand and it froze. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Ashlee and Rose Tyler." He took the arm and waved at us with it. "Go home." And with that he walked away from us.

"Come on, Ash. Let's go." Rose pulled my arm towards the estate. After we rounded the corner we heard a noise. I ran back around the corner to where he was only to see the police box he was walking towards gone. I looked around for it, but when I couldn't find it I just walked back to Rose.

"I want to look something up on Mickey's computer." I told Rose, walking back towards the flats.

"Do you really think he's on the internet?" She asked me as we walked.

"Only one way to find out." I told her walking quickly.

When we got to his flat Rose knocked on the door to prevent me from barging in as soon as he opened.

"Yahey, there's my woman! And her constant shadow!" he said opening the door for us, slapping Rose's bum in the process. "Kit off!"

"Shut up." She said smiling and giving him a kiss.

"Coffee?" he asked us as we walked in his flat. Rose stood in front of me so I wouldn't push him down to get to his computer.

"Yeah, just me and only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can we use your computer?" Rose asked walking slightly past him as he went into the kitchen and I went to his room.

**"**Yeah. Any excuse to get in the bedroom." he joked with her as she followed me.

I turned the computer on and typed "Doctor" into a search engine. No relevant results were found. I typed in "Doctor Living Plastic". Still nothing.

"Why are you so ubsessed with this bloke? I've never seen you so interested in a man before." She asked me.

"There's something about him, I can't explain it. It's like I was waiting for him to fall from the sky. I sound like a high school kid with a crush, don't I?" I laughed at myself and my foolishness.

"You sound like I wanna sound." I looked at her after she said that to see a large smile on her face.

"Thank you." I turned back around and typed "Doctor Blue Box". The first result reads "Doctor Who - do you know this man? Contact Clive here..." I clicked on it and a webpage with a blurry photograph of the Doctor and the words "Have you seen this man? Contact Clive" are presented to me. I clicked "Contact Clive".

* * *

Mickey, Rose and I were sitting in the car.

"You're not coming in! He's safe, he's got a wife and kids." I told Mickey, I wasn't going to stop Rose. She was to stubborn

"Yeah but who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an Internet lunatic murderer would say." Mickey told us, trying to prove his point. Rose and I got out of the car anyway, grinning. Mickey didn't look too happy, and gave a man putting out his rubbish the evils. I knocked on the door of a house and a young boy answered it.

"Uh, hello, I've come to see Clive? We've been emailing." I told him.

"Dad! It's one of your nutters!" The boy called out into the house and a man appeared.

"Sorry. Hello. You must be Rose. I'm Clive. Obviously!" We all shook hands.

"Hi, I'm Ashlee and this is my sister Rose." I introduced us.

"I better tell you now - my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill me!" We all laughed at how that sounded.

"No, good point. No murders." Clive said waving at Mickey who nodded back with distrust in his eyes.

"Who is it?" a woman asked coming down the stairs.

"Oh it's something to do with the Doctor! She's been reading the website. Please come through, I'm in the shed." Rose and I followed him to the shed while the woman went to the door carrying a washing basket.

"She? She read a website about the Doctor? She's a she?" she asked closing the door.

When we got to the shed, Clive started showing us around. It had quit looking like a shed to become a shrine to the Doctor.

"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive, I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig enough – keep a lively mind – this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories. No first name, no last name, just the Doctor. Always the Doctor, and the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?" he pointed to a photo of the Doctor on a computer screen behind us. I turned to look at it instantly recognizing the face.

"Yeah." I told him with a slight nod.

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original…" He showed us a series of photo of the Doctor standing in a crowd. The last picture showed President Kennedy smiling and waving in a car next to his wife.

"November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy."

"Must be his father…" Rose said while I stayed quit. That couldn't have been his father, they looked too much alike.

"Going further back, April 1912." He went and brought us a photo album trying to convince us that this was the same Doctor we had just seen just moments ago. "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend." He pointed to a man in a suit, the Doctor. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And…" he showed us a sketch. "1883. Another Doctor. And look – the same lineage. He's identical. He's one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion."

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Death. If the Doctor's back, if you've seen him, Ashlee, then one thing's for certain – we're all in danger. If he's singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls, then God help you."

"Who is he? Who do you think he is?" I asked him.

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world." I just looked into his eyes as he said this. He honestly thought the Doctor was an immortal alien.

"Thanks you, Clive. You've really helped me out." I told him turning with Rose to leave. As we left the house and got closer to the car Rose started talking to Mickey, who was just sitting in the car with a smile on his face.

"Alright! He's a nutter! Off his head! Complete online conspiracy freak. You win!" we got into the car with her having shotgun and me sitting behind them.

"What're we going to do tonight? I fancy a pizza." She asked us.

"Pizzaaa! P-p-p-pizza!" Mickey said starting the car.

"… or Chinese…"

"Pizza!" Mickey decided. We then drove off but he didn't drive straight the whole way. I'm surprised we didn't get pulled over by an officer. At the restaurant we sat at a table for four with them sitting across from each other.

"Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then, dishing out ships, I could do A Levels, I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him, and look where he ended up. What do you think?" Rose asked eating some chips.

"So, where did you meet this Doctor?" Mickey asked turning to me.

"I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?" Rose asked him.

"Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Is he something to do with that?" Mickey ignored her and continued looking at me strangely.

"No." I told him.

"Come on."

"Sort of." I finally admitted, but I didn't want to talk about it to anyone.

"What was he doing here?"

"I'm not going on about him, Mickey. I'm not." I finally told him.

"Look I know it sounds daft but, I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous." Rose told Mickey while looking at me. I knew she meant for me to stop looking, but now I don't think I ever would.

"But you can trust me sweetheart! Babe, sugar, darling, sugar." Rose and I looked at him confused. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning and I can help you. Because that's all I really wanna do." He said turning to me again.

"What're doing that for?" Rose asked him.

"Your champagne." The waiter said holding a bottle next to Mickey's head. His voice caught me off guard.

"We didn't order any champagne." He waved the waiter off. "Where's the Doctor?" he asked me again grabbing my hand and crushing it.

"Ma'am, your champagne." I looked up at the waiter to tell him off but was presently surprised to see the Doctor next to me.

"It's not ours, Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?" Rose grabbed the hand Mickey had on mine.

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" he squeezed my hand harder.

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" I looked up to see the Doctor standing next to me holding the champagne.

"Look, we didn't order i—Ah. Gotcha." I looked at Mickey to him smiling at the Doctor and felt him release my hand, which I quickly pulled off the table and held close to my chest. I looked up at the Doctor to see him shaking the bottle.

"Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" the Doctor popped the cork out and it hit Mickey squarely on the forehead. His forehead absorbed the cork and he spit it back onto the table. I quickly stood up in front of the Doctor who moved me behind him.

"Anyway." Mickey's hand turned into a club and he smashed the table in. Rose screamed and ran the other pulling me with her. The Doctor grabbed Mickey's head and pulled it off.

"Don't think that's gonna stop me." A couple at a table close to them screamed but all the Doctor was grin at the head. Rose turned and pressed the fire bell.

"Everyone out! Out now! Rose called to everyone and immediately everyone started running for the exit. The headless Mickey stayed inside, blindly smashing table with his clubbed hand. Rose, The Doctor and I ran through the kitchen and out the back exit with the headless Mickey right behind us. When we were safe the Doctor pointed his metal rod towards the door while Rose ran to escape the yard we were in and I stood between them, not wanting to leave either behind, staring at the blue police box wondering how it moved.

"Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!" Rose called to the Doctor.

"What, this? This is a sonic screwdriver." He waved the screwdriver in his hand then put it in his pocket.

"Use it!" she commanded.

"Nah. Tell you what, let's go in here." He stopped in front of me for a moment then went and unlocked the police box. Headless Mickey was beginning to make dents in the metal door behind us from the other side. Rose ran in front of the blue box while I followed the Doctor in.

"We can't hid inside a wooden box! It's gonna get us! Doctor!" I heard Rose calling to us as I slowly started walking towards the middle of the room. Rose ran in not long after I did and slammed the door behind her, took a few steps toward the center then ran out.

"It's gunna follow us." I said walking up to him as he worked around the console and Rose came back in.

"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute." The Doctor told me. Rose stayed near the door and I stayed close to the end of the railing closest to the console area. "You see, the arm was to simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right." He turned to us and gave us his full attention. "Where do you want to start?"

"Um…the inside's bigger than the outside?" Rose started.

"Yes."

"It's alien."

"Yup."

"Are you alien?" I finally spoke up from my spot.

"Yes, is that alright?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I said quickly nodding my head.

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Rose started crying and I turned and walked to her and held her close. "That's okay. Culture shock, happens to the best of us." The Doctor said, grinning.

"Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" Rose asked him.

"Oh… didn't think of that." He looked down confused.

"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head – they copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're going to just let him melt?!" she pointed at the head shouting at the man in front of us.

"Melt?" he turned in time to see Mickey's head melting with a bubbling sound. "Oh, no no no no no NO!" He started running frantically around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

"What are you doing?" I asked letting go of Rose and running up to him.

"Reviving the signal, it's fading! Wait I've got it…" he looked at a screen in front of him. "No no no no no no NO!" the TARDIS shook violently making me grab on to the console as the noise I heard earlier kept going off. "Almost there! Almost there! Here we go!" I grinned looking at me and I couldn't help but smile back. The noise stopped and the Doctor held his hand out for me and I didn't hesitate to take it. We ran out the TARDIS without another word.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose shouted at us, following us out. I was looking around noticing no one looking at us strangely but also looking to see where we'd gone.

"I lost the signal, I got so close." He leaned against the railing.

"We've moved! Does it fly?" Rose asked him looking around also.

"Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand." He said waving her off.

"But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose." I reminded him.

"It melted with the head, are you going to witter on all night?" he gave us a look.

"I'll have to tell his mother..." I felt bad, I had forgotten about Mickey in all this new information. The Doctor must have also because he looked at her questioningly.

"Mickey! I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!" Rose lectured him but he just rolled his eyes unconcerned about Mickey.

The Doctor rolls his eyes, unconcerned.

"You were right, you ARE alien." And with that said, Rose walked away.

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey—" The Doctor started.

"Yeah, he's not a kid." I told him, watching Rose walk away from us.

"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?" He asked me and I turned to him glaring.

"Alright!" I yelled back at him.

"Yes! It is!" I shook my head disbelievingly at him and this stupid argument.

"If you are an alien, then how comes you sound like you're from the North?" I asked him.

"Lots of planets have a North." He said folding his arm indignantly and looked away from me.

"What's a police public call box?" I asked him looking at the outside of his ship.

"It's a telephone box from the 1950s." he patted the TARDIS fondly, grinning at me. "It's a disguise." I smiled and shook my head again.

"Okay. And this living plastic, what's it got against us?" I asked him getting down to business.

"Nothing, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth... dinner!" he said still grinning.

"Any way of stopping it?" I asked a little worried about Mum and Rose. The Doctor pulled out a tube of blue liquid from his jacket grinning.

"Anti-plastic!"

"Anti-plastic..."

"Anti-plastic! But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" he asked looking around again.

"Hold on... hide what?" I asked following him.

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal." He looked back at me.

"What's it look like?" I asked wanting to help him.

"Like a transmitter, round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." He paced around, agitated, looking around for a clue. "A huge circular metal structure, like a dish." He stood facing me, his back to the railing of the bridge. Behind him, the London Eye loomed 450 ft above us, and he didn't even notice. "Like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be COMPLETELY invisible." I looked at the Eye behind him, pointed at him with my eyes. "What?" I nodded towards the Eye. The doctor turned around, then back to me. "What?" I shook my head smiling, still looking at the Eye. He turned around failing to make the connection with what he saw and said. "What is it? What?" I didn't say a word and stared at the object behind him. The Doctor turned around and turned back to me. "Oh," he turned back to it then back to me once more. "Fantastic!" And with that said we were off running. On the bridge he grabbed my hand, the Doctor and I ran across LondonBridge towards the London Eye.

When we arrived at the Eye we stopped at the bottom.

"Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..." The Doctor started.

"The breast implants..." I grimaced in pain at the thought of those coming to life

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." The Doctor ignored me. I ran off to find the entrance to a manhole at the foot of the wall I leaned over.

"What about down here?" I asked him as he ran to join me.

"Looks good to me." He grinned at me and we ran down the stairs to the manhole. The Doctor took the lid off it, and red light and smoke poured out. The Doctor went down first making sure it was safe. When he confirmed that he called out to me and I made my way down. When I was on my way I felt hands on my waist the rest of the way down. I turned to see the Doctor staring at me. He then turned and opened the door to another chamber and we went down some more steps. The Doctor pointed to a huge, orange wobbling mass in the middle of the chamber.

"The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature." He told me as we stood by the railing.

"Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." I said to him.

"I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance." We went down some more steps, closer to the Consciousness. The Doctor leaned over the railing and addressed the Consciousness.

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract, according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." The Doctor called to it. The Consciousness flobbled around a bit. "Thank you. That I might have permission to approach." I paced behind him until I spotted a huddling mass and ran towards it.

"Oh, my God! Mickey! It's okay! It's alright!" I squatted next to him looking him over.

"That thing down there, the liquid, Ash - it can talk!" he told me.

"You're stinking! Doctor, they kept him alive!" I called out to him.

"Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy." He said coming closer to us before standing on an edge overlooking the Consciousness.

"You knew that and you never said?" I asked him slightly angry he never mentioned that my sister's boyfriend may be alive.

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" I glared at him and helped Mickey to his feet. "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" the plastic globbed to him. "Oh don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!" It almost seemed as though the plastic was getting angry with him. "I - am - talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go." The Doctor asked nicely but two plastic men approached him from behind.

"Doctor!" I called out to him as the men grabbed him. One of them took the anti-plastic out of his jacket pocket.

"That was just insurance! I wasn't going to USE it." The Doctor told the plastic below him but if just globbed angrily. "I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not... what do you mean?" Doors above us opened revealing the TARDIS to us. "Oh, oh no - honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship." The plastic roared at him again. "That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war - it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" The Doctor told him.

"What's it doing?!" I asked him, getting scared for him

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene has identified its superior technology - it's terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Ashlee! Just leg it! Now!" He begged me. I dialed Mum on my mobile.

"Mum?!" I asked when she answered.

"Oh, there you are, I was just gonna phone. You can get compensation. I said so. I've got this document thing off the police - don't thank me!" she told me.

"Where are you, mum?" I asked her.

"I'm in town! Oh, look there's Rose! Rose!" She called to my sister.

Go home! Just get her and go home, right now!" I told her worried for them.

Darling, you're breaking up, look; we're just going to do a bit of late night shopping. We'll see you later. Tara!" she hung up on me.

"Mum?! Mum!" I put my mobile away and the Consciousness did something.

"It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!" The Doctor told us.

"The end of the world..."

"Get out, Ashlee! Just get out! Run!" he called to me as the ceiling falls in on the stairs.

"The stairs have gone!" I told him. I remembered the TARDIS and pulled Mickey with me and tried desperately to get into it. "I haven't got the key!" I turned and looked around.

"We're gonna die!" Mickey said looking up at the ceiling watching it crack. I watched the Doctor struggle to get to the anti-plastic.

"Just leave him!" Mickey told me. "There's nothing you can do!" I ran to a chain and picked up an axe.

"I've got no A Levels. No job... No future. But I tell you what I have got. JerichoStreetJuniorSchool under 16s gymnastic team." The chain came loose and I grabbed it. "I got the gold!" I swung across the gap over the Consciousness kicking the plastic men holding the Doctor into the Nestene, anti-plastic and all. The Consciousness started to writhe and scream under me. I landed safely in the Doctor's arms on my return to where I started.

"Now we're in trouble." The Doctor grinned at me. As the Consciousness started to explode the Doctor and I ran to the TARDIS. I grinned at the Consciousness before going in and closing the door running to the console as the shaking started up with us leaving the London Eye. When we landed Mickey ran backwards out of the TARDIS and fell over, looking terrified. He backed against the wall in fear. I stepped out and rang my mum. When they answered the phone she was frantic.

"Ash! Ash! Don't go out of the house, it's not safe!" I laughed in my relief to hear her voice and Rose's in the back ground.

"There were all of these things! And they were shooting! And they—" I hung up before Rose finished her sentence, smiling.

"A fat lot of good you were!" I told Mickey walking over to him and he whimpered.

"Nestene Consciousness?" I turned to see him leaning on the doorway of the TARDIS as he clicked his fingers. "Easy."

"You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." I said teasingly.

"Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then! I'll be off! Unless, uh... I don't know... you could come with me." I looked at him and put my hands in my pockets. "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."

"Don't! He's an alien! He's a thing!" Mickey said holding onto my arm.

"He's NOT invited. What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere." I was temped to say yes.

"Is it always this dangerous?" I asked.

"Yeah." He nodded his head at me. That much danger and yet it made it even more tempting to just run to him. Mickey put his arms around one of my legs like a child begging his mother not to leave him behind.

"Yeah, I can't... I've um... gotta go and find my mum and Rose um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump... making he doesn't do anything with my sister…" I laughed lightly and patted Mickey on the back. "So..."

"Okay. See you around." I opened my mouth to stop him from leaving me here and the Doctor never took his eyes off me, but he still backed up and closed the door. I watched the TARDIS disappear slowly.

"Come on, let's go find your girlfriend." I helped him up and we walked away. However, the sound of the TARDIS engines was getting louder again. We spun around as it reappeared. The Doctor popped his head out.

"By the way - did I mention, it also travels in time?" He grinned and went back in leaving the door ajar. I turned to Mickey.

"Tell Rose, thanks." I told him

"Thanks for what?" he asked me.

"She'll know." I ran into the TARDIS with a broad smile on my face.


	2. The End of The World

Last Time on Doctor Who:

"I'm the Doctor, what's your name?"

"Ashlee."

"Nice to meet you, Ashlee. Run for your life." I looked back to see the top floor blow up.

"I want you to explain everything." I told him sitting on the arm of the chair.

"There's a war going on! They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?" he asked us.

"No." we said.

"But you're still listening." he walked away.

"Really though, Doctor. Tell me – who are you?" I asked once more. This time, the Doctor stopped and turned to me.

"November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy." Clive showed us the full photo.

"The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quiet believe it because everything looks like it's standing still, I can feel it." He took my hand in his.

"Going further back, April 1912." He went and brought us a photo album trying to convince us that this was the same Doctor we had just seen just moments ago. "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend." He pointed to a man in a suit, the Doctor.

"The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…"

"1883. Another Doctor. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion."

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Death"

"That's who I am. Now, forget me, Ashlee and Rose Tyler."

"Who is he? Who do you think he is?" I asked him.

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

"It's alien."

"Yup."

"Are you alien?" I finally spoke up from my spot.

"Yes, is that alright?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I said quickly nodding my head.

"I've got no A Levels. No job... No future."

"You could come with me." I looked at him and put my hands in my pockets.

I swung across the gap over the Consciousness kicking the plastic men holding the Doctor into the Nestene, anti-plastic and all.

"This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."

"Is it always this dangerous?"

I grinned at the Consciousness before going in and closing the door running to the console as the shaking started up with us leaving the London Eye.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I can't."

"Did I mention, it travels in time?" He grinned and went back in leaving the door ajar. I turned to Mickey.

"Tell Rose, thanks." I told him

"Thanks for what?" he asked me.

"She'll know." I ran into the TARDIS with a broad smile on my face.

* * *

"Right then, Ashlee Tyler - you tell me, where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. What's it going to be?" he grined at me.

"Forwards." I told him and he pressed a few buttons.

"How far?" We hadn't even gone anywhere and I was excited.

"One hundred years." I said picking a random number. He pulled a lever and turned a knob. The engines lurched then stopped after a few seconds. My smile never left my face.

"There you go, step outside those doors, it's the twenty-second century." he said to me grinning at me.

"You're kidding."

"That's a bit boring though, do you want to go further?" he asked, but I bet he knew my answer.

"Fine by me!" I challenged him. He started the engines up again and when we stopped, he looked at me.

"Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, the New Roman Empire."

"You think you're so impressive." I said teasingly to him.

"I AM so impressive!" He mocked pain on his face.

"You wish!" I challenged once again.

"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go." he reved up the engine and pumped a lever furiously. "Hold on!" he told me. The TARDIS hurtled us forward. When it stopped it made a small pinging noise.

"Where are we?" I asked excitedly. he just gestured toward the doors. "What's out there?" I asked, my smile growing larger if possible. He just gestured again and I stepped outside. I found myself in some kind of wooden room. The Doctor followed me and with his sonic screwdriver, opened the shutters of an enormous window. We went down the stairs and find ourselves looking down on the planet Earth.

"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive. This is the year 5.5/apple/26. Five billion years in your future. This is the day... hold on... he looked at his watch. "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world." He grinned at me as I stared in awe at the view.

**"**Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite." a computer said over the intercom. The Doctor and I were walking down a corridor.

"So, when it says 'guests' does that mean people?" I asked him, suddenly thinking about who we might meet.

"Depends what you mean by people." he told me, was their a debate on that somewhere?

"I mean people. What do you mean?"

"Aliens."

"What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?" I asked looking around. The Doctor started to open a door with his sonic screwdriver.

"It's not really a spaceship. More like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn." he told me, grinning again.

"What for? Why would someone want to watch something so beautiful burn?" I asked him, voicing my thoughts.

"Fun." He said as we entered a large observation gallery. "Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich."

"But, hold on, they did this once on 'Newsround Extra' - the sun expanding - that takes hundreds of years." I told him looking at my home. One problem, it still looked the same as when I left. Had we really traveled into the future?

"Millions. But the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" He pointed out of the window at tiny glints of light orbiting the Earth. "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun." he explained to me.

"The planet looks the same as ever. I thought the continents shifted and things." I said looking back at him.

"They did. And the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!"

"How long has it got?" I asked. It almost sounded like I was talking about a person. I had always felt connected to the Earth, felt random bits of pain for no reason only to see someone chopped down a tree or an archeologist had used an explosive for a dig. The Doctor looked at his watch.

"About half an hour. And the planet gets roasted." his grin never left his face.

"Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?" I asked looking back outside.

**"**I'm not saving it. Time's up." I looked at him and saw him watching me.

**"**But what about all the people?" I said thinking of my mum and Rose.

**"**It's empty! They're all gone. All left." I looked back to the window, and I realized somthing.

"Just me then." I said.

"Who the hell are you?" I turned to see a blue man talking to us.

"Oh! That's nice, thanks." The Doctor grinned while I looked in shock at the man.

"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!" He started freaking out.

"That's me, I'm a guest, look! I've got an invitation!" The Doctor flashed a small leather wallet at the man. "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Doctor plus one. I'm the Doctor, this is Ashlee Tyler. She's my plus one. That all right?" The Doctor asked him.

"Well... obviously." the Doctor grinned at him. "Apologies, et cetera. If you're on-board, we'd better start. Enjoy." The Doctor nodded at him and he walked off. The Doctor showed me the wallet he flashed at the man and it was blank.

"The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time." He put it away.

"He's blue." I said still staring at the mans back.

"Yeah." I looked at the Doctor.

**"**Okay." I nodded my head at him. The blue man was now speaking through a microphone at the other end of the suite.

"We have in attendance, the Doctor and Ashlee Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions." he clapped his hands and a lot of little blue people started scurrying around.

"Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along! And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa." The three walked through the doors. "There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating, thank-you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon." I just stared at bewildered at the blue man and the three trees. "And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme." I heard the Doctor chuckling at me but I couldn't look away from them. "The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you! Cal 'Spark Plug'. Mr. and Mrs. Pakoo. The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light." After every name a new alien entered the room. The trees walked over to us.

"The Gift of Peace." she took a cutting and handed it to the Doctor. "I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather."

**"**Thank you!" He gave it to me. "Yes, gifts... erm..." He cleared his throat and started feeling his jacket for something to give them as a gift. "I give you in return, air from my lungs." He blowed gently onto Jabe's face, who closed her eyes breifly.

"How... intimate." She said once she opened her eyes.

"There's more where that came from." The Doctor told her flirtasiosly.

"I bet there is..." I just gave him a look.

"Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Bo." A huge head in an equlally huge jar was wheeled through the doors when the Moxx of Baljoon approched us.

"The Moxx of Balhoon." The Doctor greeted.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva." He spit at me and hit my face. The Doctor just laughed.

"Thank you very much." I just rubbed the spit off of me. Next, the Adherents of the Repeated Meme approched us.

"Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs." He breathes heavily over all of them.

"A gift of peace in all good faith." was all the first one said as he held out a large silver egg, which the Doctor takes, throws up into the air, catches, and handed it to me.

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees and Multiforms. Consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth The Last Human." I stared at the sliding doors, hoping to see something familiar. Instead what I saw when the doors opened looked like a vertical trampoline made of human skin being wheeled in. It had eyes and a mouth and wore lipstick. "The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am." Cassandra told everyone, I was just shocked at what I saw. "Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me." One of the two men in a white body suit who wheeled her in sprayed her down with a canister. "Truly, I am The Last Human." I crept foreward for a good look at her, I didn't see much. From her back I could just look right through her. "My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil. I have come to honour them and..." she sniffled a little. "...say goodbye. Oh, no tears." the man in white wipped her eyes. "No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself - the last remaining ostrich egg." One of the staff came in and displayed the egg to the room. "Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils." I looked confused at her, what legend said that? "Or was that my third husband?" I rolled my eyes and made my way back to the Doctor. "Who knows! Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!" she laughed and mumbled to herself for a few seconds before continuing. Behind her, a large jukebox was wheeled into the room. "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers." I looked amazed at her. Where did she get her information? "Play on!" One of the staff pressed a button and the jukebox started playing Tainted Love by Soft Cell. I watched the Doctor bop around to the beat.

"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes." I was at a loss and felt very ocerwhelmed. Everywhere I looked was an alien, but no one like me, no real human. She left the gallery running the other way. When I got to another part of the ship I just stared out the window at Earth and the raging sun. I jumped when another one of the staff came into the room, this one female.

"Sorry, am I allowed to be in here?" I asked her. She just looked at me uneasily.

"You have to give us permission to talk." she told me and looked at me expectantly. I just felt unsure about having to give permsions to speak.

"Uh... you... have permission...?" I said unsure if I was supposed to or not.

"Thank you! And, no. You're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere." she answered my previous question.

**"**'Kay." I watched her go to a panel in the wall and enter a code.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Raffalo."

"Raffalo?" I asked, making sure I pronounced it right.

"Yes, Miss. I won't be long, I've just got to carry out some maintenance." She knelt before an air vent. "There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Bo suite. There must be something blocking the system - he's not getting any hot water." she explained to me.

"So, you're a plumber?" I asked making sure I got her job title right. Some people were very picky on that.

"That's right, Miss."

"They still have plumbers?"

"I hope so! Else I'm out of a job!" I laughed with her.

"Where are you from?" I asked making conversation.

**""**Crespallion." Not like I knew what that was.

"That's a planet, is it?" I asked.

"No, Crespallion's part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex 56. And where are you from, Miss? If you don't mind me asking." she asked.

"No! Not at all. Erm... I dunno, a long way away... I just sort of, hitched a lift with this man. I didn't even think about it... I don't even know who he is... he's a complete stranger... but something about it just seems, right..." Raffalo looked at me worridly as I snapped myself out of my thoughts.

"Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it!" She walked away from the window only to be stopped by Raffalo.

"Thank you, Miss. And thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate." I smiled at her.

"'Kay. See you later." I just walked to a viewing gallery and sat. I watched the Earth float in space throwing the egg up in the air.

"Earth Death in 25 minutes. Earth Death in 25 minutes." The computer announced.

"Oh, thanks." I put the egg down and turned my attention to the cutting of Jabe's grandfather and picking it up.

"Hello! My name's Ashlee. My sister's name is Rose and that's a sort of plant. We might be related..." I looked back to the window realizing what I just did and put the plant down. "I'm talking to a twig."

"Ashlee? Are you in there? Aye aye!" I watched the Doctor sit on the other side of the stairs. "What do you think, then?" he asked me.

"Great! Yeah... fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper..." We laughed before pausing for a bit. "They're just, so alien." he looked at me questioningly. "The aliens. Are so alien. You look at 'em... and they're alien." I tried explaining.

**"**Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South." I laughed at the joke.

"Where are you from?" I asked curiously.

"All over the place." I just gave him a look on his answer.

"They all speak English." I commented.

"No - you just hear English. It's a gift of the TARDIS. Telepathic field, gets inside your brain - translates."

"Who are you then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?" he just sat up and looked away from me.

"I'm just The Doctor."

**"**From what planet?"

"Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!"

"Where are you from?!"

"What does it matter?"

"Tell me who you are!"

"This is who I am, right here, right now, alright? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!"

"Yeah, and I'm here too because you brought me here, so just tell me!" he just got up and walked down the steps away from me.

"Earth Death in 20 minutes. Earth Death in 20 minutes." The computer announced. After a few quiet moments, I got up and waked down the steps towards the Doctor.

"My mum once told me, it's not where you're from the defines you but what you do with the time given. I think she stole that from a movie." I laughed and got my mobile out. "Can't exactly call for a taxi... there's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit!" I laughed again.

"Tell you what..." He took my phone from me. "With a little bit of jiggery pokery..." he took off the back of my phone.

"Is that a technical term, 'jiggery pokery'?" I asked him, flirting a bit.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery, what about you?"

"Nah, I failed hullabaloo." I told him.

"Oooh." he fit a new battery into the phone then handed it back to me. "There you go." I took it back and looked at him uncertainly. He nodded at me and I got my mum's number onto the screen and puts the phone to my ear as it rangs.

"Hello?" I heard my mum answer.

"Mum?" I looked at him in shock.

"Oh, what is it? What's wrong? What have I done now? Oh, this blue top's falling to bits! You should get your money back. Go on! There must be something, you never phone in the middle of the day!" I laughed at her comment. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing! You all right, though? How's Rose?" I asked her.

"Why wouldn't I be? Rose is out job hunting. Where are you?" she asked me.

"I'm out with a friend. What day is it?" I asked her.

"Wednesday. All day. You got a hangover? Oh, I tell you what, put a quid in that lottery syndicate, I'll pay you back later." I laughed a little.

"Yeah, um, I was just calling 'cause I might be late home." I told her. I wanted to at least try and tell her about being gone without going into detail.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No! I'm fine! Top of the world!" I said looking out at the view and the Doctor, who just laughed.

"Was that a man I heard? Are you being safe?"

"Mum, really?"

"Oh, alright then, love you." I lowered my mobile, stunned.

"Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill." The Doctor told me.

"That was 5 billion years ago. So... they're dead now. Five billion years later, my mum and sister are dead." I said slowly to myslef.

"Bundle of laughs, you are." Right after the Doctor spoke the ship shuddered. I started to fall but the Doctor caught me and held me in his arms. "That's not supposed to happen..." he told me grinning

As we walked into the suite I over heard the Mox of Ballhon talking to the Face of Bo.

"...this is the Bad Wolf scenario..."

**"**That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." He fiddled with a control panel next to the door. "What do you think, Jabe? Listened to the engines - they pitched up about 30 hertz, is that dodgy or what?" I turned to see Jabe next to me.

**"**It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me." She told him

**"**Where's the engine room?" The Doctor asked her.

**"**I don't know... but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suite, I could show you. And your wife." She gestured to me.

**"**She's not my wife." He told her.

**"**Partner?"

**"**No."

**"**Concubine?"

**"**Nope." Jabe looked at me.

"Prostitute?"

"Whatever I am, it must be invisible, do you mind? Tell you what, you two go and pollinate, I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson." I told him insulted by all she had called me. I walked towards Cassandra.

"Don't start a fight." He offers his arm to Jabe. "I'm all yours."

**"**And I want you home by midnight!" I said watching them go. The Doctor just grinned at me.

"Earth Death in 15 minutes. Earth Death in 15 minutes." The computer announced.

"Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy. Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice." She told me watching the sun. "I had such fun." she sighed.

**"**What happened to everyone else? The Human Race - where did it go?" I asked her.

**"**They say Mankind has touched every star in the sky."

**"**So, you're NOT the last human." I clarified.

**"**I am the last PURE human. The others... mingled." she said disgusted. "Oh, they call themselves 'New Humans' and 'Proto-humans' and 'Digi-humans' even 'Human-ish' but you know what I call them? Mongrels." She whispered the last bit to me.

**"**Right. And you stayed behind." I said.

**"**I kept myself pure." She clarified to me.

**"**How many operations have you had?" I asked her.

**"**708. Next week, it's 709, I'm having my blood bleached. Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Rose. You've got a little bit of a chin poking out." She told me staring at me.

**"**I'd rather die." I told her honestly.

**"**Honestly, it doesn't hurt-" she started but I interrupted her.

**"**No, I mean it. I'd rather die. It's better to die than live like you - a bitchy trampoline." I told her.

**"**Oh well. What do you know." she looked back to the view.

**"**I was born on that planet. And so was my mum, and so was my dad and that makes me officially the last human being in this room, 'cause you're not human. You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking." I walked out of the room as fast as I could. As I walked down a corridor I saw the Adherents of the Repeated Meme coming from the other end. I smiled at them the first one stoke me to the ground, knocking me out.

When I woke I heard 'Toxic' playing loudly and a massive headache. I rubbed my head to try to get rid of the pain.

**"**Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending." the computer announced. I sat up in alarm as I watched the sunfilter descending. I ran to the door and knocked on it frantically.

"Let me out!" I called out as the computer announced the sunfilter was descending.

"Let me out! Let me out!" I tried calling again.

**"**Anyone in there?" I heard the Doctor ask towards the door.

"Let me out!" I told him.

**"**Oh, well, it would be you." He said.

"Open the door!" I told him.

**"**Hold on! Give us two ticks!" He told me.

The room around me was burning.

"Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending." The computer told us. **"**Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising." the computer announced and I sighed with relief.

**"**Sunfilter rising... Sunfilter descending."

"This is just what we need. The computer's getting clever." He said.

**"**Will you stop mucking about!" I commanded him.

"I'm not mucking about, it's fighting back!"

**"**Open the door!"

"Hang on!" I ran down the stairs and flattened myself to the floor as much as possible.

"Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising." I sighed in relief and ran towards the door. "Earth Death in 5 minutes." I opened the door and hugged him tightly.

"Hey you, trying to tan?" He asked me.

"Nah, I heard pale is in." I told him smiling.

The Doctor and I walked into the suite as Jabe was talking to everyone, announcing what we had learned.

**"**The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one." Jabe told everyone.

**"**How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me." Cassandra told her dummies. The Doctor took the metal spider out of Jabe's hand.

"Summon the Steward!" The Moxx of Ballhon said.

**"**I'm afraid the Steward is dead." Jabe told him. Everyone gasped in shock at this discovery.

"Who killed him?" he commanded.

**"**This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Bo! He invited us!" I looked at the Face of Bo as he shook his head. "Talk to the face! Talk to the face!" Cassandra shouted loudly.

**"**Easy way of finding out. Someone bought a little pet on board." he showed everyone the spider. "Let's send him back to Master." he placed the spider down on the floor and it scuttled along to Cassandra and looked up at her. She looked shifty for a moment, but the spider moved on to the feet of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

"They're the one's who knocked me out and put me in that room." I told the Doctor silently.

**"**The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra commanded.

**"**That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it..." the one in front tried to strike him but he caught it and ripped his arm off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea." he ripped out a wire from the arm and all the Adherents of the Repeated Meme crumpled on the floor. "Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo!" he nudged the spider with his foot. "Go home!" the spider ambled back to Cassandra.

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed." I just looked at her like she was crazy. "At arms!" the two bodyguards with canisters on either side of her rose their canisters.

"What are you going to do, moisturize me?" The Doctor mocked her stepping back slightly.

**"**With acid. Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just as pretty face." Cassandra told him.

**"**Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?" The Doctor told her.

**"**I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous." Cassandra revealed to him.

**"**Five billion years and it still comes down to money." I said.

**"**Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am The Last Human, child. Me. Not you." Cassandra told.

**"**Arrest her!" The Moxx of Ballhon commanded.

"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option." Cassandra told us.

**"**Earth Death in 3 minutes." the computer announced.

**"**And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? "Burn, baby, burn."" Cassandra told us.

**"**Then you'll burn with us." Jabe told her.

**"**Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but... I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders - activate." There were a series of explosions around the ship. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye, darlings! Buh-bye, my darlings." she and her bodyguards teleported out.

"Heat levels rising."

**"**Reset the computer!" The Mox of Ballhon suggested.

**"**Only the Steward would know how." Jabe reminded him.

**"**No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Ash, come on." we left the room heading for the maintenance corridor.

**"**Earth Death in 2 minutes. Earth Death in 2 minutes."

"Heat levels - critical. Heat levels - critical."

The Doctor and I reached the ventilation chamber.

**"**Oh. And guess where the switch is." He said and I looked on the other side of the three large fans. Sure enough it was there.

"Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - rising." He pulled a lever down and the fans slowed.

"External temperature - 5 thousand degrees." As soon as he let go of the lever, the fans sped up again. I pulled the lever down again and held it. He had to make it across, no matter what.

"You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place." He told me, looking worriedly at me.

**"**I know." I told him, sweat already running down my face.

"You'll burn."

"Then time it perfect." We grinned at each other and he ran back to the fans.

He grins at her and runs back to the fans.

"Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - hazardous." he dodges the first fan and ran underneath. When he got to the second one he looked up at it.

"Shields malfunctioning. Shields malfunctioning." The Doctor was still standing before the second fan, and looked back at me. I was sweating like a pig and breathing heavily and my hand felt like it was on fire. "Heat levels - critical. Heat levels - critical." The Doctor dodged under the second fan. "Heat levels - rising. Heat levels - rising. Planet explodes in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4..." The Doctor dodged the third fan. He ran to the switch, pulling it up.

"Raise shields!" he told the computer/

**"**...1" I removed my hands and looked down at them. They would probably scar horribly. When the Doctor made his way back to me he looked at my hands.

"I can help them heal but I don't know if I can stop the scaring. I'm sorry." I smiled at him.

"I knew what that might do, I'm fine.

**INT. VENTILATION CHAMBER**

The Doctor walks back through the fans. We made our way back to the suite. The Doctor looked extremely angry about something, I just wish I knew what it was.

"You all right?" I asked as we entered the suite.

**"**Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one - teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two - this feed must be hidden nearby." he walked over to the ostrich egg and broke it open. The teleportation feed fell out and he picked it up. "Idea number three - if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." he twisted the feed and Cassandra appeared before us in the middle of her gloating.

"Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces." She looked around. "Oh."

**"**The Last Human."

**"**So. You passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the er... the human club." she said flustered at the thought of what could happen.

**"**People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them." The Doctor told her.

**"**That depends on your definition of 'people'. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter..."

**"**And creak?" The Doctor interrupted her.

**"**And what?" she asked him.

**"**Creak! You're creaking." he told her. I looked at her to see her skin tightening. Her eyes became bloodshot and she was getting whiter and whiter.

"What? Ah! Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturize me! Moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" she panicked, covered in red blotches.

"You raised the temperature." The Doctor reminded her.

**"**Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, Doctor!" she begged.

"Everything has its time and everything dies." I told her.

**"**I'm... too... young!" She exploded as we watched. We left the room after that, watching everyone leave. I walked to the window and stared at where my home once was. I went back to the Manchester Suite which was completely empty apart from me. I stood at the window watching the Earth burn with a very vulnerable and sad look on her face. I just watched the rocks fly past the window. I turned around when I heard the Doctor's footsteps as he came to stand beside me.

"The end of the Earth. It's gone. And we were too busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go. All those years... all that history and no one was even looking. It's just..." I felt my eyes stinging with unshed tears.

The Doctor held his hand out to me. **"**Come with me." I took his hand and we walked to the TARDIS together. When I opened the doors I looked around at the crowds, seeing them differently now that I had just yesterday.

"You think it'll last forever. People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." I looked at the sky. "My planet's gone." I looked at him. I got from the last time we spoke he didn't like talking about his home very much. "It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time." he looked at the people around us.

**"**What happened?" I asked him.

**"**There was a war. And we lost."

**"**A war with who?" I didn't expect an answer to this question, he was already telling me so much. "What about your people?"

**"**I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own because there's no one else."

**"**There's me..." I said softly. He looked down and me and I smiled at him

She smiles at him.

**"**You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?" I looked at him then at the people walking by us. They were safe and oblivious to the worlds around them, could I just go back to that?

"I don't know. I want..." I smelt the air "Oh! Can you smell chips?" I asked looking back at him, a small smile playing on my lips.

**"**Yeah. Yeah!" he laughed at me.

**"**I want chips." I told him and I knew that we both knew I wasn't going anywhere.

**"**Me too." he said smiling at me.

**"**Right then, before you get me back in that box, chips it is, and you can pay." I said hitting his chest lightly.

**"**No money." he told me, grin still on his face.

**"**What sort of date are you? Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me." He seemed a lot happier now, that was all I had wanted. "We've only got five billion years before the shops close..." We walked down the street together laughing. I held his hand a laid my head on his shoulder.

I was only the beginning for us, and I hoped it would never end.


	3. The Unquiet Dead

Inside the TARDIS was mayhem. The whole ship was shaking and an alarm kept going off.

"Hold that one down!" The Doctor yelled at me, pointing to a button.

**"**I'm HOLDING this one down!" I yelled back showing him the lever I was holding.

**"**Well, hold them BOTH down!" He yelled back at me.

**"**It's not going to work!" I yelled at him, smiling.

**"**Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future - let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?" the Doctor asked me.

"What happened in 1860?" I asked.

**"**I don't know, let's find out. Hold on, here we go!" he pulled a lever down and we kept going until we came to a sudden stop, dropping the Doctor and I to the ground. We looked at each other then started laughing as we got up.

"Blimey!"

**"**You're telling me! Are you alright?" He asked me.

**"**Yeah. I think so! Nothing broken... did we make it? Where are we?" I asked him looking at the steaming controls.

**"**I did it! Give the man a medal. Earth - Naples - December 24th, 1860." he said studying the screen.

**"**That's so weird... it's Christmas." I said just thinking about it. I looked at the Doctor and he gestured towards the door.

**"**All yours." He said smiling at me.

**"**But, it's like... think about it, though. Christmas. 1860. Happens once. Just once, and it's gone. It's finished. It'll never happen again. Except for you." I studied him for a moment. "You can go back and see days that are dead and gone and a hundred thousand sunsets ago... no wonder you never stay still..." I said just staring at him, my thoughts flying everywhere all at once.

**"**Not a bad life." He told me.

**"**Better with two." I told him. We grinned at each other for moment before I started walking past him. I slapped his bum and made my way quickly to the door. "Come on then!"

**"**Oi, oi, oi! Where do you think you're going?!" The Doctor said, stopping me.

**"**1860!" I told him.

**"**Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella! There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on your left. Hurry up!" I smiled and rushed off in the direction he sent me only stopping to give him a kiss on the cheek. When I got to the wardrobe, which was the size of a large mansion, I looked through all the dresses looking for one that might fit the time period as well as look good on me. I know I sound vain when I say this, but I wanted to look my best for him. when I saw are red and white dress out of the corner of my eye, I knew I wanted to wear it. Time period appropriate or not. I put the dress on and pulled out small white pumps. I also grabbed a small white jacket just to cover my arms. I put my hair up in a nice bun and stuck a rose into it to match the dress. I walked back to the console to see the Doctor doing repair work. He glanced up at the door way then back down before snapping his head back up.

"Blimey!" he looked shock at me.

**"**Don't laugh!" I started laughing, I knew I must have looked ridiculous.

**"**You look beautiful!" I stopped laughing and smiled at him. He then looked away."...considering." he turned on the screwdriver.

"Considering what?" I asked him my smile faded.

**"**That you're human!" he told me and I laughed a little.

_"_I THINK that's a compliment... Aren't you going to change?" I asked him.

**"**I've changed my jumper! Come on!" He jumped out of the space beneath the controls but I picked up my dress slightly and ran past him.

"You, stay there! You've done this before. This is mine!" I opened the door and looked out onto the 1860 street. I made a footprint in the untouched snow then withdrew my foot again. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the TARDIS not bothering to look behind me to see the Doctor.

"Ready for this?" I looked at his offered arm and smiled while taking it.

"Here we go. History!" we walked off together just looking at everything and talking about nothing. I was amazed by everything I saw. The Doctor wandered away from me and I followed him. He stopped and looked at a paper and I walked ahead a little, smile never leaving my face._  
_

"I got the flight a bit wrong." He told me.

"I don't care." I told him, shaking my head.

"It's not 1860, it's 1869."

**"**I don't care!"

**"**And it's not Naples."

**"**I don't care."

**"**It's Cardiff." I stopped walking and the smile left my face.

**"**Right..." We continued walking down the street until we heard screaming. We looked at each other and the Doctor grinned.

"That's more like it!" he tossed the newspaper over his shoulder, grabbed my hand, and we ran in the direction of the screaming. We entered a theater and saw a blue mist zoom around.

**"**Fantastic." The Doctor said grinning. I followed the blue mist to an old woman to see the last of the blue mist left the old woman and she slumped back into a chair. The Doctor approached the man on the stage and I watched a man and a woman grab the woman and take her.

"Oi! Leave her alone! Doctor, I'll get 'em!" I told him following them.

**"**Be careful!" he called after me. I caught up with them as they loaded the old woman into the hearse.

"What're you doing?!" I asked the woman as the man walked to the front.

"Oh, it's such a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself, me and the master will deal with it." she tried to bar me from see inside. "The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary." I pushed her aside and felt the old womans forehead, cold.

_"_She's cold..." I felt for a pulse, nothing. "She's dead! My God, what did you do to her?" I snapped my head at the woman glaring at her. She looked behind me as someone clamped something over my mouth. I smelt something weird, but I couldn't quite distinguish. then everything went black_._

* * *

When I woke up, I looked around to see where I was. I quickly turned around and saw a man behind me, making zombie noises at me.

**"**Are you all right? You're kidding me, yeah? You're just kidding." I asked as he climbed out of the coffin. "You are, you're kidding me, aren't ya?" He took a staggering step toward me. "Okay, not kidding." I got up and ran to the door and tried to open it, finding it locked. I looked behind me again to see a woman's body rising from the other coffin. I grabbed a vase and lobbed it at the man. I didn't do anything but cause him to stumble slightly. I turned back around and rattled the handle, hopping someone would hear me. "Let me out! Open the door! Please, let me out!" I glanced back to see both corpses walking toward me. "Let me out! Somebody, open the door! Open the door!" A hand clasped itself over my mouth, muffling my screaming. The man pulled me closer to him when the Doctor kicked the door in.

**"**I think this is MY dance." He pulled me from the man's grip. I smiled up at the man before me.

**"**It's a prank? It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence." I looked at the older man behind me.

**"**No, we're not. The dead are walking." He grinned down at me. _"_Hi!"

**"**Hi! Who's your friend?" I asked looking at the older man.

**"**Charles Dickens." He introduced.

**"**Oh. Okay." I looked back at the dead people in front of us.

"My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?" The Doctor asked the dead before us.

**"**We're failing. Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form - cannot sustain - help us." both of them raise their heads to the ceiling and blue gas left them with a wailing sound. They then both fell to the floor.

* * *

Gwyneth poured us all tea while I was letting Sneed have it.

**"**First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." The Doctor chuckled at my words as I walked between him and Sneed.

**"**I won't be spoken to like this!" Sneed told me.

**"**Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough - you swan off! And leave me to die! So come on - talk!" I said, ignoring his statement.

**"**It's not my fault, it's this house! It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back. And then the stiffs-" Dickens looked at him, mildly offended. "...the er, dear departed started getting restless."

**"**Tommyrot." Dickens said unbelieving him.

**"**You witnessed it! Can't keep the beggars down, sir! They walk. And it's the queerest thing that they hang on to scraps..." Gwyneth gave the Doctor his tea. "Two sugars, sir, just how you like it." I watched her leave.

**"**One old fella who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir! Just as she planned." Sneed told us.

**"**Morbid fancy." Dickens told him.

**"**Oh, Charles, you were there." The Doctor reminded him.

**"**I saw nothing but an illusion." Dickens told him.

**"**If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up." Dickens looked at him stunned by his words. "What about the gas?" The Doctor asked Sneed.

"That's new, sir, never seen anything like that." Sneed told him, honestly.

**"**Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." The Doctor told us.

**"**What's the rift?" I asked him.

**"**A weak point in time and space. The connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." He told me.

_"_That's how I got the house so cheap." Sneed discovered. "Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air and this feeling like a... shadow. Passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine." Sneed told us.

* * *

After a while I walked into the kitchen as Gwyneth was lighting a gas lamp. I walked to the sink and started washing the dishes in there.

**"**Please, Miss! You shouldn't be helping! It's not right!" Gwyneth told me.

**"**Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death." I handed her a drying cloth. _"_How much do you get paid?" I asked her.

**"**Eight pound a year, miss." I looked at her in shock.

**"**That much?" I asked her.

**"**I know. I would've been happy with six." I looked at her, dumbfounded by this news.

**"**So, did you go to school or what?" I asked, curious about the time I was in.

**"**Of course I did. What do you think I am? An urchin? I went every Sunday. Nice and proper." She told me.

**"**What - once a week?" I asked again.

**"**We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second." She told me.

**"**Doesn't everyone?" We both laughed. Not a lot was different between us with the exception of the time period difference.

"Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own!" She confided in me.

**"**I did plenty of that. I used to go down the shops with my sister Rose. And we used to go and look at boys!" I told her. She stopped laughing and looked scandalized at my comment.

**"**Well, I don't know much about that, miss." She turned back to the drying.

**"**Come on, times haven't changed that much! I bet you've done the same." I told her.

**"**I don't think so, miss." She tried convincing me.

**"**Gwyneth! You can tell me! Bet you've got your eye on someone." I smiled at her. **"**I suppose. There is one lad..." I smiled more at her.** "**The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him!" She told me

**"**Oh, I like a nice smile. Good smile, nice bum." I gave her a look. Gwyneth looked at me shocked.

**"**Well, I have never heard the like!" We laughed once more.

**"**Ask him out! Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start."

**"**Tell me! There must be a proper man in your life." I glanced at her and then to the door.

"There is one man." I confided in her.

"The man you travel with? The Doctor?" I smiled and looked at her out of the corner of my eye.

"How did you two meet?"

"He helped us out with a big problem then he asked me to travel with him I jumped at the chance." I smiled at her.

"I swear, it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding but you talk like some sort of wild thing!" She told me and I shrugged at her.

"Maybe I am. Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mr Sneed." I told her.

**"**Ah, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in. Because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve." She told me.

**"**Oh, I'm sorry." I apologized for my insensitivity.

**"**Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your family's up there waiting for you too, miss." She told me.

"Maybe." I nodded at her then paused. _"_Um, my mum and sister are still alive. Who told you my dad was dead?" I asked her. She turned quickly from me back to her washing.

"I don't know, must've been the Doctor." She told me.

**"**My father died years back." I told her.

**"**You've been thinking about him lately, more than ever." She told me.

**"**I s'pose so... I just want to know if he would be proud of me... how do you know all this?" I asked her.

**"**Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you miss." We laughed.

**"**No, no servants where I'm from." I told her.

**"**And you've come such a long way." She said as we continued the washing.

**"**What makes you think so?" I asked her.

**"**You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that." She said looking at me intently. _"_All those people rushing about. Half naked, for shame. And the noise... and the metal boxes racing past... and the birds in the sky... they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People flying. And you - you've flown so far, further than anyone! The things you've seen... the darkness... the big bad wolf-" she staggered back from me, afraid. _"_I'm sorry! I'm sorry, miss!" she apologized for her words.

**"**S'alright..." I told her.

**"**I can't help it - ever since I was a little girl. My mum said I had the sight. She told me to hide it!" She told me.

**"**But it's getting stronger. More powerful, is that right?" I jumped and looked to the doorway to see the Doctor.

**"**All the time, sir. Every night. Voices in my head." Gwyneth told him.

**"**You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key." He told her.

**"**I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts." she told us.

**"**Well, that should help. You can show us what to do." He said.

**"**What to do where, sir?" She asked once more.

**"**We're going to have a séance."

* * *

We all sat around a round table for the seance.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists. Down in Mid Town. Come. We must all join hands." We all joined hands with each other except for Dickens.

"I can't take part in this." he said getting up from the table.

**"**Humbug? Come on, open mind." The Doctor told him.

**"**This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I try to un-mask. Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing." Dickens said looking at Gwyneth.

**"**Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium." The Doctor smiled at her.

**"**I can't believe you just said that." I told him.

_"_Come on, we might need you." Dickens sat down again and grabbed the hands closest to him. "Good man. Now, Gwyneth. Reach out." The Doctor instructed her.

**"**Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits?" She called out and Dickens rolled his eyes at her. "Come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." She raised her eyes to the ceiling as a murmuring filled the room.

**"**Can you hear that?" I asked them, gripping the Doctor's hand a little tighter.

**"**Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly." Dickens told me.

**"**Look at her." I told him.

**"**I feel them. I feel them!" Gwyneth told us as the gas creatures began to fill the room.

**"**What're they saying?" I asked her.

**"**They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through." The Doctor told her.

**"**I can't!" She told him.

**"**Yes you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link." The Doctor instructed her. She looked pained for a moment before lowering her head and looking at us.

**"**Yes." Three gaseous figures appeared behind her. Dickens' mouth dropped open.

**"**Great God. Sprits from the other side!" Sneed said, staring at them.

**"**The other side of the universe." The Doctor told us.

**"**Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time, help us." They told us.

**"**What do you want us to do?" The Doctor asked them.

**"**The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge." They instructed us.

**"**What for?" The Doctor asked them.

**"**We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction." They told us.

**"**Why, what happened?" The Doctor asked.

**"**Once we had a physical form like you. But then the war came." The Gelth told us.

**"**War? What war?" Dickens asked them.

**"**The Time War." The Doctor and I glanced at each other. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state." They told us.

**"**So that's why you need the corpses." The Doctor realized.

"We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste, give them to us!" The Gelth commanded.

**"**But we can't!" I told them.

**"**Why not?" The Doctor asked me.

**"**It's not... I mean, it's not..." I struggled with the right words.

**"**Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives." We stared at each other for a moment.

**"**Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!" They disappeared and Gwyneth collapsed onto the table.

**"**Gwyneth!" I ran to her.

**"**All true." Dickens mumbled.

_"_Are you okay?" I asked the girl in front of me.

**"**It's all true." I stared at the Doctor as he sat in silence, watching me.

* * *

In the parlor room we had laid Gwyneth on a couch and I sat next to her mopping her forehead. When she awoke she looked around quickly._  
_

**"**It's alright. You just slept." I told her trying to calm her down.

**"**But my angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?" She asked me.

**"**They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival." The Doctor told her.

**"**I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles." I told him angrily. He felt pity for them because the Time War hurt them but still... The Doctor leaned his head back and sighed at me. I turned back to Gwyneth and gave her a drink.

**"**Drink this." I told her.

**"**Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?" Dickens asked him once more.

"Aliens." The Doctor answered him.

**"**Like... foreigners, you mean?" Sneed asked him.

**"**Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there." He said pointing to the sky.

**"**Brecon?" Sneed asked him again.

**"**Close. They've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes." The Doctor explained to us again.

**"**Which is why they need the girl." Dickens said, putting everything together.

**"**They're not having her." I told them.

**"**But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it, she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through." The Doctor told me.

**"**Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers." Dickens thought aloud.

**"**Good system. It might work." I got up and walked over to the Doctor.

**"**You can't let them run around inside dead people!" I told him once again.

**"**Why not? It's like recycling." He told me.

**"**Seriously though, you can't." I told him.

**"**Seriously though, I can." He said, getting in my face.

**"**It's just... wrong! Those bodies were living people! We should respect them even in death!" I told him my view on it.

**"**Do you carry a donor card?" He asked me.

**"**That's different, that's-"

**"**It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home." I looked at him in shock. He sighed before speaking in a softer tone. _"_You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying." He told me.

**"**I don't care, they're not using her." I told him again.

**"**Don't I get a say, miss?" We looked at her.

**"**Look. You don't understand what's going on." I told her.

**"**You would say that miss. Because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid." Gwyneth told me.

**"**That's not fair!" I told her.

**"**It's true, though. Things might be very different where you're from. But here and now, I know my own mind. And the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?" She asked him and I looked down.

**"**You don't HAVE to do anything." The Doctor reminded her.

**"**They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my mum on a holy mission. So tell me." The Doctor smiled at her words.

**"**We need to find the rift." He told us. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed. What's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?" He asked Sneed.

**"**That would be the Morgue." He told the Time Lord.

"No chance you were gonna say anything else, was there?" I asked as everyone looked at me. I nodded at them. "Right let's go, gents, don't want to leave anyone waiting on us._" _

* * *

We all walked to the Morgue with the Doctor in the lead.

"Talk about Bleak House." He said as we looked around.

**"**The thing is, Doctor - the Gelth don't succeed. 'Cause I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869." I told him, thinking of my home.

**"**Time's in flux. It's changing every second. Your cozy little world could be rewritten like that." he said as he clicked his fingers. _"_Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing." He told me.

**"**Doctor - I think the room is getting colder." Dickens told him.

**"**Here they come." I said as the Gelth flooded the room. The leader positioned itself in an archway and had the voice of a child.

**"**You have come to help! Praise the Doctor! Praise him!" It said.

"Promise you won't hurt her!" I told it.

**"**Hurry! Please. So little time. Pity the Gelth." They never promised me anything.

**"**I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?" The Doctor told them.

**"**My angels. I can help them live." Gwyneth said looking at them.

**"**Okay, where's the weak point?" He asked them.

**"**Here, beneath the arch." They said and Gwyneth positioned herself beneath the arch.

**"**Beneath the arch." I rushed over to her.

**"**You don't have to do this." I reminded her. She placed her hands on my cheeks.

**"**My angels." I staggered backwards toward the Doctor.

**"**Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!" The Gelth told her.

**"**Yes. I can see you! I can see you! Come!" She called to them.

**"**Bridgehead establishing." the Gelth told us.

**"**Come! Come to me! Come to this world, poor lost souls!" Gwyneth called to them.

**"**It is begun! The bridge is made!" Gwyneth's mouth open and the Gelth poured out of it. "She has given herself to the Gelth!" she told us.

**"**There's rather a lot of them, eh?" Dickens asked.

**"**The bridge is open. We descend." The Gelth went into the bodies and the ones we spoke to turned from blue to red. "The Gelth will come through in force."

**"**You said that you were _few_ in number!" Dickens told them.

**"**A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses." The bodies that the gasses entered rose.

**"**Gwyneth... stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, leave these things alone. I beg of you-"

**"**Mr. Sneed! Get back!" I begged him but it was too late. A corpse grabbed him from behind and held him while another Gelth filled his body. The Doctor and I leapt back as Sneed looked up at us through black, dead eyes.

**"**I think it's gone a little bit wrong." The Doctor told me.

"Yeah, ya think?" I asked him sarcastically.

**"**I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come. March with us." Sneed told us.

**"**No!" Dickens called out. The corpses advanced on us.

**"**We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead." The Gelth told us, backing the Doctor and I against a dungeon door.

**"**Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back! Now!" The Doctor tried telling her.

**"**Three more bodies. Make them vessels for the Gelth." The leader commanded.

**"**I- I can't! I'm sorry!" Dickens said backing away. I watched the corpses come at us when the Doctor pushed me inside a small area with him. He slammed the door shut so we were both locked in.

"It's too much for me! I'm so-" he jumped and ran from the room as one of the Gelth swooped at him. The corpses were trying desperately to get at us.

**"**Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth." The leader told us.

**"**I trusted you. I pitied you!" The Doctor told it angrily.

**"**We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh." it said as the ones already in bodies rattled the door.

**"**Not while I'm alive." The Doctor told it.

**"**Then live no more." The leader told him.

"But I can't die." I looked at the Doctor for reassurance. "Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?!" I asked him.

**"**I'm sorry."

**"**But it's 1869, how can I die now?" I asked again.

**"**Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th and it's all my fault. I brought you here." he blamed himself.

**"**It's not your fault. I wanted to come." I reminded him.

**"**What about me? I saw the fall of Troy! World War Five! I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party, now I'm going to die in a dungeon!" he said horrified. _"_In Cardiff!"

**"**It's not just dying. We'll become one of them. We'll go down fighting, yeah?" I asked him.

**"**Yeah." he agreed.

**"**Together?" I asked looking at him with a smile.

"Together!" He agreed with a smile. We linked hands. "I'm so glad I met you." He told you and I stared at him in shock.

**"**Me too." We smiled at each other. Then, Dickens rushed into the room.

**"**Doctor! Turn OFF the flame, turn UP the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!" He told us.

"What're you doing?" The Doctor asked him.

**"**Turn it all on! Gas the place!" Dickens told us turning more gas on.

**"**Brilliant. Gas!" The Doctor smiled at me.

**"**What, so we choke to death instead?" I asked them.

**"**Am I correct, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous!" Dickens asked him.

**"**Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!" At that moment the Gelth filled corpses turned on Dickens instead of us.

**"**I hope... oh, Lord. I hope that this theory will be validated soon. If not immediately." he said as the advanced.

**"**Plenty more!" The Doctor smashed a gas canister against the wall and all the creatures were sucked from the bodies with a scream.

**"**It's working." Dickens said, shocked at the results. The Doctor and I were finally free to come out of the dungeon.

**"**Gwyneth! Send them back! They lied, they're not angels." The Doctor told her.

_"_Liars." She said simply.

**"**Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!" The Doctor told her.

_"_Can't breathe." I told the Doctor, coughing.

**"**Charles, get her out." The Doctor grabbed my arm but I shook him off me.

**"**I'm not leaving the two of you!" I told him.

**"**They're too strong." Gwyneth told us.

**"**Remember that world you saw? Ashlee's world? All those people - non of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift." The Doctor told her.

_"_I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out." Her hand went to her apron pocket and she took out a box of matches. I rushed forward to take it from her but the Doctor stopped me.

**"**You can't!" I told her, tears filling my eyes.

**"**Leave this place!" Gwyneth told us. The Doctor grabbed my shoulders.

**"**Ashlee, get out, go now, I won't leave her while she's still in danger, now go!" I stared into his eyes then ran out of the Morgue with Dickens behind me.

* * *

Dickens and I went back through the dark, gas filled house.

**"**This way!" Dickens said, helping me walk. My vision was going blurry due to all the gas I had breathed in.

* * *

When we got outside we turned back to the house and waited. The whole house then went up in flame and Dickens had to hold me back as I tried running back to the house to get them out, until I saw the Doctor run out the door. I watched the doorway, waiting for Gwyneth then looked at the Doctor._  
_

**"**She didn't make it." I said, reading his face.

**"**I'm sorry. She closed the rift." he told me.

**"**At such a cost. The poor child." Dickens said but I refused to take my eyes off the Doctor.

"I did try, Ashlee, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes." he told me.

**"**What do you mean?" I asked him.

**"**I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch." He explained to me.

**"**But... she can't have, she spoke to us. She helped us - she saved us. How could she have done that?" I asked him motioning to the fire.

**"**There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor." Dickens told us.

**"**She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know." I said looking at the fire before us.

* * *

Back in the ally way with the TARDIS the Doctor, Dickens and I looked at the beautiful blue box.

**"**Right then, Charlie-boy, I've just got to go into my um... shed. Won't be long!" The Doctor said as he fit the key in the lock.

"What're you going to do now?" I asked Dickens.

**"**I shall take the mail coach back to London. Quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital." I smiled at his answer.

**"**You've cheered up!" The Doctor said cheerfully.

_"_Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world and now I know I've just started! All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor! I'm inspired. I must write about them!" Dickens told us.

**"**Do you think that's wise?" I asked him.

**"**I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word! Tell the truth!" Dickens told me excitedly.

**"**Good luck with it. Nice to meet you." the Doctor shook Dickens' hand. "Fantastic." he turned back to the TARDIS door.

**"**Bye, then. And, thanks." I told him leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. When I pulled back from him he looked very taken-aback.

**"**Oh, my dear- how modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand - in what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?" he asked us.

**"**You'll see. In the shed." the Doctor said opening the door of the TARDIS.

**"**Oh, my soul. Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this - who are you?" I looked at the marvelous man before me.

"Just a friend. Passing through." he answered.

**"**But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor - do they last?" of all the things to ask, he wanted to know if he'd be remembered.

**"**Oh, yes!" The Doctor said smiling at him.

**"**For how long?" Dickens asked.

**"**Forever!" The Doctor told him. Dickens tried to look please and modest at the same time. "Right. Shed. Come on, Ashlee..." we turned back to the door.

**"**In - in the box? Both of you?" Dickens asked us.

**"**Down boy. See ya!" The Doctor and I entered the TARDIS and shut the door behind us.

"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" I asked him.

**"**In a weeks time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story." I looked back to the screen where we could watch Dickens standing outside.

**"**Oh, no! He was so nice." I thought aloud.

**"**But in your time, he was already dead! We've brought him back to life! He's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie-boy. Let's give him one last surprise." He hit a button and the engines reved up. We laughed as we watched Dickens' face as the TARDIS was disappearing before his eyes.


	4. Aliens of London

When I stepped out of the TARDIS I looked around and saw the Powell Estate.

**"**How long have I been gone?" I asked looking back at him.

**"**About 12 hours." we laughed at the time frame.

"Oooh! Right, I won't be long, I'm just gonna see my mum and Rose." I told him and started walking away.

**"**What're you going to tell her?" he asked me, I turned to him again.

**"**I don't know! I've been to the year 5 billion... and only been gone, what, 12 hours?" I asked smiling at him. He laughed at my question. "No, I'll just tell her I've spent the night at Care's. See you later!" I walked off again before turning back to him. "Oh - don't you disappear." He gave me a look then I ran off towards the flat.

* * *

I opened the door to my flat and put my keys on the small table next to it.

**"**I'm back! I was Care's. She was all upset again. Are you guys in?" I called walking into the living room. Mum walked out of the kitchen holding a cup of tea."So, what's been going on? How've you been? Is Rose with Mickey?" I asked her, but she just stared at me. "What? What's that face for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night." I told her laughing a little. She dropped her tea and it smashed on the floor.

"It's you."

**"**Of course it's me!" I told her. "Who else would it be?" I gave her a strange look as she started tearing up.

_"_Oh, my God. It's you. Oh my God." She threw herself at me and almost knocked me over with her hug. I looked over her shoulder and saw a lot of posters saying "Where is Ashlee?" with my picture on it. The Doctor then ran into the flat. Both mum and I stared at him.

"It's not 12 hours, it's er... 12 months. You've been gone a whole year." he looked at me apologetically while I was stunned.

"What? What happens to 12 hours, I like 12 hours better than 12 months!" I told him.

"Sorry." he apologized again.

_"_I want a re-due."

* * *

"The hours we've sat here. Days and weeks and months worried sick about you. We thought you were dead. And where were you? Travelling. What the hell does that mean? Travelling? That's no sort of answer." Mum yelled at me. Rose had gotten a job somewhere and couldn't be hear yet, but when she got here I would hear another earful. Mum had called the police when she couldn't get a "real" answer out of me. I sat in the armchair letting her yell her frustrations out, I deserved it. Mum turned to the officer and almost begged for help. "You ask her. She won't tell me! That's all she says. Travelling." She sat on another chair while the Doctor leaned on the back of the chair I sat on.

"That's what I was doing." I told her again.

"When your passport's still in the drawer?" she yelled gesturing to my bedroom. "It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, I really did, I just... I forgot." I told her.

"What, for a year? You forgot for a year?" she asked me.

"I did phone once, it was a Wednesday, remember?" I asked her remembering our conversation on Platform One.

"What about after that? Rose and I were left sitting here? I just can't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?" She asked me.

"Actually, it's my fault. I sort of er, employed Ashlee as my companion." The Doctor told them.

"When you say 'companion', is this a sexual relationship?" My face was instantly burning.

"No!" the Doctor and I said together.

"Then what is it? Because you, you waltz in here all charms and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the earth! How old are you then? 40? 45? What, you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?" Mum asked him, getting in his face.

"I AM a Doctor!" He told her.

"Prove it! Stitch this, mate." and with she slapped him hard on the face. The Doctor groaned and I jumpled up to look at it. Thankfully it was just red.

"Did you really have to go and do that?" I asked her.

"He took you away from me? What do you expect I do?" the guilt that had started to grow in my chest during the interrogation now found a nice home in my chest. Should I have never left?

* * *

In the kitchen, mum and I were hugging each other tightly.

**"**Did you think about me at all?" she asked as I moved away from her slightly, crying at her words.

"I did! All the time! But..." I started but couldn't finish.

**"**One phone call. Just to know that you were alive!" she reminded me.

**"**I'm sorry. I really am." I apologized to her over and over.

**"**Do you know what terrifies me, is that you still can't say. What happened to you, Ashlee? What could be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?" I couldn't answer, she'd never believe me.

* * *

Later that day the Doctor and I were sitting on the roof, just sitting down, thinking about today's events.

"I can't tell her. I can't even _begin..._ she's never gonna forgive me. And I missed a year? Was it good?" I asked the Doctor.

**"**Middling." He told me shrugging.

**"**You're so useless." I told him laughing.

**"**Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" He asked me and I was silent for a moment.

**"**I dunno. I can't do that to her again, though. And Rose probably feels the same." I said looking up at the sky.

**"**Well, your mum's not coming with us." The Doctor said making me bust out laughing the Doctor soon joined.

"No chance." I agreed with him. "That'd be like mum moving in with me if I ever got married.

**"**I don't do families." He told me and I continued laughing.

**"**She slapped you!" I laughed at him.

**"**900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." He told me making me laugh harder.

**"**Your face." I said remembering his expression.

**"**It hurt!" He told me rubbing his cheek.

**"**You're so gay!" I said as my laughter died down. "When you say 900 years..." I said trailing off.

**"**That's my age." he said looking at me.

**"**You're nine hundred years old?" I asked him doing the math in my head.

**"**Yeah." he confirmed.

**"**My mum was right - 879 years is one hell of an age gap. Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet earth who knows they exist." I said looking at him next to me. His eyes widened and he pulled me off the wall to the ground, straddling him. I then heard a horn go off right above me as I stared into his eyes. When the shadow passed us we jumped up and watch as the ship hit Big Ben then land in the Thames. "Oh, that's just not fair." I told him smiling. The Doctor laughed, grabbing my hand, and pulled me behind him in the direction of the crash.

* * *

On the street, it was complete mayhem with the police blocking everyone's way to the ship. Close to us I noticed a familiar blond head.

"Rose?" she turned around and her eyes widened. She then ran to me and gave me a large hug.

**"**It's blocked off." The Doctor said as I pulled away from my sister.

**"**We're miles from the center. The scene must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down." I said looking around at all the people around us and the cops blocking us.

"I know, I can't BELIEVE I'm here to see this! This is fantastic!" He said with a large grin on his face.

**"**Did you know this was going to happen?" Rose finally asked him in a harsh tone.

**"**Nope!" He told us.

**"**Do you recognize the ship?" I asked trying to get a better look.

"Nope!" He told us, grin never faltering.

**"**Do you know why it crashed?" I asked as I stopped looking around and just stared at him.

"Nope!" He said watching all the hustle and bustle never looking down at me.

**"**Oh, I'm so glad I've got you." I said looking at the crowd in front of us. Rose was giving me a look, she wasn't happy about everything here.

"Where were you?" she asked me lowly.

**"**I bet you are! This is what I travel for, Ash! To see history happening right in front of us." The told me ignoring Rose.

"Rose, I'll tell you later. Let's go and see history happen! Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS!" I told the Doctor.

**"**Better not. They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London, don't want to shove another one on top." he said looking down at me.

**"**Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice." Rose said bringing our attention.

**"**You'll be surprised, an emergency like this - there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where it is." He said looking back to the crash. I looked at it and felt my face fall knowing we couldn't get any closer.

"So, history's happening and we're stuck here." I pointed out.

**"**Yes, we are." He said and from the sounds of it he didn't realize what that meant. We were just watching it, not getting in the middle of it and learning anything about it.

**"**We could always do what everybody else does." Rose told us. I sighed and the Doctor looked at us confused.

"We could watch it on TV." I told him and he turned back to the wreckage, confusion still on his face.

* * *

"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene." the news reporter said as the Doctor and I watched the TV intently. "The police urge the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family." He changed the channel over to an American news channel and Rose pulled my attention away from the telly.

"The military are on the lookout for more spaceships. Until then, all flights in North American air space have been grounded."

"Where have you been for a year?" He changed it back to News 24.

"We time traveled, Rose. His ship, the TARDIS, can travel in time. He took me to the year 5 billion and then to 1869. I got to see the Earth burn and nearly burned with it. I also got to meet Charles Dickens and then was nearly killed by ghosts." I told her summing everything up.

"The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find." I heard the reporter say before it turned back to the American channel.

"And the other 363 days? You were gone for a year, Ash. And since when has called you Ash?" She drilled questions my way.

"The President will address the nation live from the White House. But the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies." I was never able to answer as Mum came in with a cup of tea for each of us.

"I've got no choice! Either I make him welcome, or I run the risk of never seeing you again!" Mum told me as her and Marianna babbled to each other angrily.

"Oi! I'm trying to listen!" The Doctor told them.

"... his current whereabouts. News is just coming in, we can go to Tom at the embankments." a reporter said as he turned back to news 24. "They've found a body." I sat on the arm of the chair the Doctor was on so I could hear better. "It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore."

"Oh, guess who asked me out - Billy Crewe." I heard her say and saw the Doctor shake his head making me smile.

"Unconfirmed reports say that the body _is_ of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts is yet unknown." a kid walked by me and I guess he took the remote because the channel changed a few times before stopping on Blue Peter, a cooking show.

"And when you've stuck your things on, you can cover the whole lot..." I watch the Doctor pick the kid up putting him on his lap and wrestle the remote from him. "Ooo, look at that. Then, ice it, any colour you want - here's one I made a little bit earlier - look at that. Your very own spaceship ready to eat. And there's something a little extra special-" When he finally got the remote he changed the channel back to news 24.

**"**... in hospital. We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albian Hospital, the roads closed off - it's the closest to the river." the little boy hopped off his lapped and stood in front of the screen and the Doctor pointed for him to go the other way."

"Go on!" The young boy walked off.

"Go easy on him, he's just a kid." I reminded him.

"I used to have kids, Ash. Trust me he'll be fine." I looked at him in shock.

"Really?" I asked.

"I'm being told that... General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building's evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body contained inside those walls. Mystery still surrounds there whereabouts of the prime minister. He's not been seen since the emergency began. The opposition are criticizing his lack of leadership. Hold on-" we watched as a man got out of a car and entered 10 Downing Street. "Oh - that's Joseph Green, MP for Hartley Dale. He's chairman of the parliamentary commission on the monitoring of sugar standards in exported confectionary. With respect, hardly the most important person right now." the reporter said.

* * *

Later that night I watched the Doctor walk out of the flat and followed him.

"And where do you think you're going?" I asked him as I closed the door.

**"**Nowhere! It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all." he told me. After already spending some time with him I knew he was lying.

**"**Right - there's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just 'wandering'." I said, making sure he knew I didn't believe him.

**"**Nothing to do with me! It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, color of smoke, everything! It's perfect!" He told me grinning again.

**"**So..." I waited for him to continue.

**"**So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've GOT to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!" He laughed slightly, grin never leaving and I smiled. "You don't need me - go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum and sister." he said turning to walk away. I remembered the question I'd asked myself earlier, should I've never left?

"Promise you won't disappear?" I asked him. If I hadn't gone, I wouldn't feel like I did, like I finally belonged somewhere. He stopped and turned around to me again. He felt around in his pockets and walked to me.

"Tell you what - TARDIS key." he said pulling out a key and giving it to me. "About time you had one." he said grinning. "See you later!" I waited until I couldn't see him anymore then walked back inside putting the string with the key on it around my neck.

* * *

When I got back inside Rose pulled me inside her room and put something in my hand. When I looked down I saw the pocket watch I'd always had.

"You forgot it, last time. Thought you'd like it back." I smiled at Rose and flipped it over tracing the intricate designs.

"Thank you." I smiled at her.

"So tell me more about what you've been doing." I told her everything we'd done with a smile on my face. As she listened she smiled at me and asked questions as I went.

"Do you love him?" she asked me as I finished telling her what he did for Gweneth.

"How would I know? I've only been with him a short while. I'm still getting used to some things. But he's amazing, if only you would come with us and see what he does for the worlds out there." I said grabbing her hand.

"The way you describe everything, if he offers it I just might take him up on it." she said smiling at me. "Besides, miss a chance to see you fall in love with a bloke? I'd never miss that." we laughed at her words, but were they true? Was I falling in love with the Doctor?

"You know what's weird though?" I asked her suddenly.

"Other than trampoline humans and blue ghosts?" she asked jokingly.

"I feel as though I'd been waiting for him. Like I belonged in the TARDIS, traveling like he does." she just listened as I spoke. "It's as if I'd taken this slow path just to wait for him to find me in the shop." I told her with tears filling my eyes. "Why do I feel like that?" she sat down and hugged me close to her and we sat there for a moment before joining the rest of the party in the sitting room.

"Here's to the Martians!" Mum said raising her glass.

**"**The Martians!" Everyone toasts then continue their talking and laughing. It suddenly went quiet and I turned to the door to see why everyone was so quiet.

"Mickey, hey. I was gonna phone to tell you she was home but I guess I forgot." Rose said sitting up but he just stared at us.

"Someone owes Mickey an apology." One of our neighbors said.

"I'm sorry." Rose apologized.

**"**Not you." I looked at the woman and watch her look at mum.

**"**It's not my fault. Be fair. What was I supposed to think?" She asked giving Mickey a look before walking to the kitchen with me, Rose and Mickey following her.

"You disappear - who do they turn to? Your sister's boyfriend. Five times, I was taken in for questioning. Five times. No evidence, of course there couldn't be, could there. And then I get her - your mother." he told me, pointing to mum. _"_Whispering around the estate - pointing the finger - stuff through my letterbox - and all 'cos of you." he told me.

"I didn't think I'd be gone so long." I told him.

"And we were waiting for you, me and Rose! Twelve months. Waiting for you and the Doctor to come back." I looked to the floor with some guilt.

**"**Hold on, you knew about the Doctor? Why didn't you tell me?" Mum asked him. I looked up as Mickey slammed the shutters on the window shut and closed the door.

"Yeah, yeah. Why not, Ash? Huh? How could I tell them where you went?" Mickey asked me.

**"**Tell me now." Mum ordered.

"I might as well, 'cos you're stuck here. The Doctor's gone." My head snapped to him, eyes wide. "Just now, that box thing just faded away." I jumped off the counter and walked up to him.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, my fists clenched.

"He's left you. Just like all the others. Some boyfriend He turned out to be." I ran from the kitchen, grabbing my own leather jacket on my way.

* * *

I stood staring at where the TARDIS had been hoping my eyes had gone extremely bad. Rose and Mickey stood a little ways off watching me.

"He wouldn't just leave me here, he promised me." I said to myself.

"Oh, he's dumped you, Ash. Sailed off into space. How does it feel, huh? Now you are left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it. He's never coming back, and who would want to? With the way you treat your friends and family." Mickey said and I felt the tears run down my face. Was he right? Had the Doctor grown tired of me already?

"But he would have said." I choked out as Mum walked to us.

"What're you three chimps going on about? What's going on? What's this Doctor done now?" She asked us and Mickey laughed.

"He's vamoosed!" Mickey told her.

"He's not! 'Cos he gave me this!" I showed them the TARDIS key still around my neck and Mickey just shrugged at me. How could Rose let him talk to me like that? "He's not my boyfriend, Mickey, he's better than that. He's so much more important than any other man that's ever been in my life." I told him, but then the key started glowing and I heard the TARDIS engine making the normal landing sounds. "I said so." I said smiling and moving back slightly.

"Mum! Mum, go inside." I heard Rose say and tried to help her.

"Mum, don't stand there, just go inside. Just- mum, go-" I broke off as what we were saying wasn't doing anything and she was looking past us. I turned and watched the TARDIS appear in front of us.

"Uh?" Mickey looked anywhere but at me. Mum just stared at the TARDIS in amazement.

"How'd you do that, then?" I just bit my lip at her question and walked toward the TARDIS, unlocking it and walking in to see the Doctor looking at the computer screen.

**"**Alright, so I lied! I went and had a look, but the whole crash landing's a fake - I thought so, it's just too perfect. I mean, 'hitting Big Ben' come on, so I thought let's go and have a look-" he said never looking behind him to us.

**"**My mum's here." I told him as the door creaked alerting us to Mum, Rose and Mickey entering. The Doctor looked at them then turned to me.

"Oh, that's JUST what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!" He said examining my face. I quickly wiped away any tears I'd had and tried my best to ignore his questioning gaze.

"You ruined my life, Doctor." Mickey told him and I looked to the console, not looking at my long time friend. I felt the Doctor's gaze on me for a moment longer before he turned to the others. "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."

_"_See what I mean? Domestic." he told me before turning back to face the computer screen. I heard someone walk towards us and turned to see Mickey.

"I bet you don't even remember my name!" He told the Time Lord.

**"**Ricky." The Doctor told him.

**"**It's Mickey." Mickey corrected him.

**"**No, it's Ricky." The Doctor told him turning from the screen to Mickey.

**"**I think I know my own name." Mickey told him.

**"**You THINK you know your own name? How stupid are you?" The Doctor asked him and I laughed slightly. Mum then ran outside.

"Mum, don't!" I called after her. "Don't go anywhere!" I told the Doctor. "Don't cause any more trouble!" I told Mickey before running to the door to see Rose calling after mum. She ran back to us and we ran to the console. The Doctor was once again looking at the monitor. "That was a REAL spaceship?" I asked him.

"Yep!" He confirmed for me.

**"**So, it's all a pack of lies? What is it then, are they invading?" I asked looking at the monitor. I heard Rose and Mickey arguing silently but I didn't bother asking why, their were far more important things to worry about now.

"Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert." Mickey said breaking away from Rose to us.

_"_Good point! So, what're they up to?" The Doctor asked before jumping down under the console to mess with the wires.

"So, what're you doing down there?" Mickey asked after a while as Rose and I sat on the seats.

_"_Ricky." The Doctor said muffled.

"Mickey." Mickey corrected again.

"Ricky." The Doctor repeated. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?" He asked him.

**"**I suppose not..." Mickey answered him.

"Shut it, then." The Doctor went back to his work and Mickey joined us.

"Some friend you've got." Mickey told me.

**"**He's winding you up." I told him looking at the monitor. "I am sorry for not calling you guys." I told him."

"It's okay." He said holding Rose close to him.

_"_Even if you don't believe me I am!" I almost yelled at him.

**"**Every day, we looked. On every street corner, wherever we went, looking for a blue box for a whole year." Mickey told me, making me feel guilty.

**"**It's only been a few days for me. I don't know, it's... it's hard to tell inside this thing but I swear it's just a few days since I left you guys." I told him.

**"**Not enough time to miss us, then?" He asked, giving Rose a quick look.

"I did miss you guys." I said looking to Rose.

**"**We missed you." Rose told me smiling.

"So... now that you've come back... are you gonna stay?" Mickey asked me. I just shrugged when I heard sparks from beneath the console I rushed to the Doctor.

"Got it! Haha!" He said, grinning. "Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of the spaceship, here we go... hold on..." He whacked the computer scream a few times. "Come on!" When a picture finally came up he showed me what he had been wanting then explained it to me. "That's the spaceship on it's way to Earth... see? Except... hold on... see, the spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."

**"**What does that mean?" I asked him.

**"**It means it came from Earth in the first place - it went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived. They've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?" He asked as we studied the screen. He started flipping through the television channels.

"How many channels do you get?" Rose asked him.

**"**All the basic packages." The Doctor told her.

**"**You get sports channels?" Mickey asked him.

**"**Yes, I get the football. Hold on, I know that bloke." He turned up the volume.

**"**It is looking likely that the government is bringing in alien specialists - those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space." the reporter was saying before the Doctor muted him again.

**"**UNIT! United Nations Intelligence Task force - good people." The Doctor told us.

**"**How do you know them?" I asked him.

**"**'Cos he's worked for them. Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. Mickey and I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet... and in the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead." Rose told me.

**"**That's nice. Good boy, Ricky." The Doctor praised him like a dog.

**"**If you know them, why don't you go and help?" I asked him.

**"**They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover... and eh, better keep the TARDIS out of site. Rickey! You've got a car - you can do some driving." The Doctor walked towards the door and we followed him.

"Where to?!" Mickey asked him.

**"**The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship." The Doctor said as he walked out the door. When I stepped out all I could hear was helicopters and we all stood under a searchlight.

**"**Do not move!" Someone said over the loud speaker. Police cars and soldiers surrounded us, pointing guns at us and preventing us from leaving. Mickey chose that moment to run away as mum ran towards us, but the soldiers prevented us from going to her.

"No!" I heard her call out but after that I just stared at the searchlight and all the guns. I'll have to do something to defend myself and the Doctor one day.

"Raise your hands above your head! You are under arrest!" We all obeyed the man in the helicopter.

"Take me to your leader!" The Doctor called out and I hit him in the shoulder with my hand before returning it to its place.

"Really? That's the first thing you say?" I asked him as the cops escorted us to a police car. I sat in the middle as Rose and the Doctor were put each side of me.

"This is a bit posh. If I knew it was gonna be like this - being arrested - I'd have done it years ago." Rose said looking out the window.

"We're not being arrested, we're being escorted!" I told her.

**"**Where to?" she asked and we turned to the Doctor.

**"**Where'd you think? Downing Street!" He told us laughing and we joined in.

"You're kidding." I told him through my laughter.

**"**I'm not!" He told me, smiling wider.

**"**10 Downing Street?" I asked him again.

**"**That's the one!" He confirmed for us.

"Oh, my God! I'm going to 10 Downing Street?" I asked again laughing. He just nodded at me, grinning.

"How come?" Rose asked him.

**"**I hate to say it, but you were right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, uh - noticed." He told us.

**"**Now they need you?" I asked.

**"**Like it said on the news - they're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?" he asked, grinning expectantly at us.

"Patrick Moore?" Rose asked him.

**"**Apart from him!" He said waving her off.

**"**Ah, don't you just love it..." I said grabbing his hand.

**"**I'm telling you, Lloyd George - he used to drink me under the table." He told me.

* * *

When we got the Downing Street the paparazzi and hundreds of police men were there waiting. The Doctor got out and waited for me before continuing on with my hand in his. He grinned to the crowd and waved at them and I laughed at him. Rose quickly followed us inside._  
_

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, could we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right and can I remind you, ID cards are to be worn at all times." a man said, walking to the Doctor giving him an ID card. "Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companions don't have clearance." He said motioning to me and Rose.

**"**I don't go anywhere without her. Them." He said motioning to us and putting on his ID card.

"You're the code nine, not them." He told the Doctor. "I'm sorry, Doctor... it is the Doctor, isn't it? They'll have to stay outside." The man told us.

"The girls stay with me." the Doctor insisted, but we wouldn't be any closer to finding out what was going on.

**"**Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let them in and that's a fact." The man wouldn't give in.

_"_It's alright, you go." I told him, making him look to me.

"Are you sure?" He asked me, gripping my hand tightly.

**"**Yeah, they're the experts, you should hear what they've got to say." I said motioning to the room all those people had entered.

**"**I s'pose so. Don't get into any trouble." He told me before walking away.

"I just need a word in private." I heard a woman say and I turned to her.

**"**You haven't got clearance, now leave it!" He told her grabbing both my arm and Rose's. "I'm going to have to leave you with security." He began to lead us away when the woman began talking to the man again.

"It's alright. I'll look after them. Let me be of some use." she grabbed Rose's hand and began walking with me behind them. "Walk with me. Just keep walking..." She said as we walked past the guards at the door "That's right... don't look round! Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North." She showed us her ID card. "This friend of yours... he's an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?" she asked us as we hid in a corridor.

**"**Why do you wanna know?" I asked her. Harriet broke down in tears and Rose tried to comfort her.

* * *

Harriet led us to the cabinet room and showed us the body of a man, but there wasn't much to see. He was mostly just skin and clothes now.

**"**They turned the body into a suit! A disguise for the thing inside!" Harriet said bursting into tears again.

"It's alright! We believe you. It's... it's alien. They must have some SERIOUS technology behind this... if we could find it..." I said as I started rummaging around the room. "... we could use it." I opened a cupboard and a man's body fell out and I bent down to examine him as Rose and Harriet joined me. Unlike the last one he had all his insides.

"Oh, my God! Is that-?" Rose stopped as we heard the door open.

"Harriet, for God's sake! This has gone beyond a joke - you cannot just wander-" he stopped talking, looking down at the body. "Oh, my God. That's the Prime Minister!"

"Ohhh!" I jumped up and saw a woman walk in with a smile on her face. "Has someone been naughty?" She asked in a high pitched voice. She shut the door behind her and I just watched her.

"That's impossible. He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away!" the man told the blond woman in front of us.

**"**And who told you that? Hmm?" She asked the man while walking up to him. "Me." She moved her hair from her fore head and started pulling a zipper along it and a blue light came out. She pulled herself out of her skin suit and revealed herself to be big and green with big black eyes. She slowly started wiggling herself out of the human suit she wore. She roared and grabbed the man in her claws, strangling him as we could do nothing but watch.**  
**

_**TO BE CONTINUED**_


	5. World War Three

**I want to thank all my devoted readers! You are what keeps me going with all my stories. While I love everything I wright your reviews keep a smile on my face and your ideas just might end up in one of the chapters.**

**I wanted to specifically thank grapejuice101 for your reviews since the last update. **

**Sanura Bey**

* * *

The alien, all of the sudden, was covered in electricity and dropped the mans body from the wall.

I grabbed Rose and Harriet's hands and we ran from the room with Harriet whimpering slightly behind me. We continued running down many corridors until Harriet stopped us.

"No, wait! They're still in there! The emergency protocols! We need them!" She ran back in the direction of the cabinet room and the alien. Rose and I gave each other a look then ran after her but quickly changed direction due to the large green alien running our way. We ran through multiple hallways until we came across a room and we ran inside it with Rose closing the door behind us. It did no good though because the alien ran right through the door and we ran to another room shutting the door behind us again. We kept running until we came to a locked door. Rose and I kicked the door in when the lift pinged behind us. The alien stood between us the the lift and it opened to revealing the Doctor. Instantly my chest lightened, I was so happy he was okay. The alien roared at him and he just smiled and nodded at us.

"Hello!" The doors began to close and he gave me a pointed look. Run. I grabbed Rose and Harriet's hand and we slipped away unnoticed while the alien looked at the lift. We ran into a state room and tried all the doors. Locked.

"Now what do we do?" Harriet asked us and I thought about it for a moment. Alien at our backs, no Doctor and no way out.

"Hide!" I told them and we all hid ourselves seperatly. I heard the alien enter the room not to long later.

"Oh, such fun! Little human children... where are you? Sweet little humeykins... come to me... let me kiss you better..." I watched Rose move from behind a cabinet to behind a curtain. "...kiss you with my big, green lips." She then hissed at us and continued walking around the room. I heard two other aliens enter the room before she'd found us. This was getting harder.

"My brothers." She said to them, so they are a family. That was good to know.

"Happy hunting?" One of them asked her.

"It's wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they stink." She told them. Not good.

"Sweat... and fear." That must the the second brother, I wonder if they looked different from each other. If not how would they tell themselves apart.

"I can smell an old girl... stale bird... brittle bones." The first brother said. Harriet.

"And a ripe youngster. All hormones and adrenaline. Fresh enough to bend before she snaps." The female alien said. Rose and I weren't that far apart in age, just 2 years. So were they talking about her or me.

"There's another smell. An older one masked by human hormones." What? I heard a scream and Harriet jumping up. I quickly jumped from my hiding place.

"No! Take me first! Take me!" Harriet called out as Rose ran to me. The Doctor chose that moment to crash in blasting a fire extinguisher in the alien's faces.

"Out! With me!" He called to us. Rose and I pulled the curtains down over the females head and then we ran to stand behind the Doctor. The Doctor looked to Harriet. "Who the hell are you?" He asked her.

"Harriet Jones - MP for Flydale North."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." With the introduction over the Doctor blasted the fire extinguisher again and we ran for it. "We need to get to the cabinet rooms!" He told us as we ran.

"The Emergency Protocols are in there! They give instructions on aliens!" Harriet told him.

"Harriet Jones - I like you." My chest tightened at that sentence. Why?

"And I like you too." she told him as we ran. The Doctor bypassed a locked door with the sonic scredriver and the aliens pursued us all the say back to the cabinet room. We didn't have time to close the door so the Doctor, thinking on his feet, picked up a bottle of brandy and held the sonic screwdriver to it.

"One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof! We all go up. So back off." He told them and they hesitated, just what we needed them to do. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?" He asked them.

"They're aliens." Harriet said.

"Yes. We got that, thanks." I told her.

"Who are you, if not human?" One of the aliens asked him.

"Who's not human?" Harriet asked us.

"He's not human." Rose told her.

"He's not human?" Harriet asked us again.

"Yep." I answered.

"Can I have a bit of hush?" The Doctor asked turning to us.

"Sorry." We apologized to him.

"So - what's the plan?" The Doctor asked the aliens once more.

"But he's got a Northern accent." Harriet told Rose and I.

"Lots of planets have a North." I told her.

"I said hush." He told us before turning back to the aliens. "Come on!" He said holding the brandy threateningly out in front of us. "You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government - what for? Invasion?" He asked them.

"Why would we invade this God forsaken rock?" one of the male aliens Slitheen asked him.

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here - what is it?" The Doctor asked them.

"The Slitheen race'?" The first male asked him.

"Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen at your service." Our service? If they were at our service they would leave us alone.

"So, you're family." The Doctor stated looking at the three of them.

"It's a family business." The second male told us.

"Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a 'God forsaken rock'?" The Doctor asked them.

"Ahhh... excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability...?" Damn they figured us out.

"Is that what I said?" The Doctor asked looking back at me and I nodded to him.

"You're making it up!" The first male slitheen accused him.

"Ah, well! Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it." he said offering her the brandy.

"Pass it to the left first." Harriet told him.

"Sorry." he said and passed it to me.

"Thanks." I told him taking it.

"Now we can end this hunt... with a slaughter." The Slitheen said as he flexed his claws menacingly. The Doctor just stood there and folded his arms over his chest.

"Don't you think we should run?" Rose asked him.

"Don't worry, Rose. The Doctor knows what to do." I told her.

"You trust him that much?" she asked me.

"Of course." I told her smiling at the man in front of me. The Slitheen chose that moment to shuffle forward.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the cabinet room - if the cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain." He opened a secret area near the door and pressed a switch. "End of lesson." We looked around the room as every entrance to the room was immediately blocked by metal shutters and the Doctor turned to us. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in." He told us proud of the room.

"And how do we get out?" I asked him. There was a slight pause as he just stared at me.

"Ah."

"And you trust him?" Rose asked me again.

"Yep." I told her putting the brandy down. "Help me move the bodies, Rose." I told her. She and I dragged the bodies to the cupboard and closed the door.

"What was his name?" The Doctor asked us.

"Which one?" Harriet asked him.

"This one - the secretary or whatever he was called." The Doctor asked her looking at the man on the floor. Harriet came over to us and looked at him.

"I don't know. I talked to him. I brought him a cup of coffee. I never asked his name." She told him. The Doctor crossed the man's hands over his body.

"Sorry." I smiled at him and he walked over to another part of the room and I closed the door. "Right, what have we got? Any terminals? Anything?" He asked us and we looked around a bit.

"No. The place is antique. What I don't get, is when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?" I asked him.

"He's too slim - they're big old beasts, they need to fit inside big humans." He told me.

"But the Slitheen are about 8 feet, how do they squeeze inside?" I asked again looking around the room. I caught Rose's eyes and she just watched the two of us interact.

"That's the device around their necks - compression field - literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas, it's a big exchange."

"Wish I had a compression field, I could fit a size smaller." Rose said sitting down across from Harriet, who'd started looking through the protocols.

"Yea but then you'd be farting all the time and it'd be disgusting." I reminded her. "Give me a larger size any day over that."

"Excuse me, people are dead, this is not the time for making jokes." I looked to my lap sheepishly, I guess I've officially gotten used to this life.

"Sorry... you get used to this stuff when you're friends with him." I told her pointing to the Doctor who was scanning the walls with his sonic screwdriver.

"Well, that's a strange friendship." She told me.

"Harriet Jones - I've heard that name before - Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?" The Doctor asked her giving her a strange look.

"Huh! Hardly." She told him.

"Rings a bell, Harriet Jones..." He look like he was struggling to remember something important but it just wouldn't come to him.

"Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now - the protocols are redundant, they list the people who can help and they're all dead downstairs." Harriet told us. Rose moved to look over the older woman's should at the protocols.

"Hasn't it got like, defence codes and things? Can we just launch a nuclear bomb at 'em?" Rose asked trying to read the papers in front of her.

"You're a very violent young woman..." Harriet told her staring at her.

"-I'm serious! We could!" Rose told her.

"Well, there's nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations." Harriet told us. The Doctor stopped scanning the mantelpiece and looked at her.

"Say that again." The Doctor ordered her.

"What, about the codes?" Harriet asked him.

"Anything. All of it." he told her.

"Um, well... the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN." She explained to us.

"Like that's every stopped them." I said thinking about our past history.

"Exactly, given our past record - and I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the governments hands and given to the UN." The Doctor looked at nothing in particular. "Is it important?" Harriet asked him.

"Everything's important." He told her.

"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me, I'm saying 'Slitheen' as if it's normal." Harriet said laughing slightly.

"Welcome to my world." I told her. "What do they want, though?" I asked the Doctor.

"Well, it's just one family so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen world... they're out to make money, which means they want to use something, something here on Earth... some kind of asset." The Doctor explained to us.

"Like what? Gold? Oil? Water?" Harriet asked him.

"What about fuel?" I asked and they all gave me a look. "Come on it can't just be Earth that needs more fuel out in the universe." I told them

"You two are very good at this." The Doctor told both Harriet and myself.

"Thank you." Both Harriet and I told him.

"Harriet Jones - why do I know that name?" The Doctor asked again as my phone went off.

"Oh! That's me." I told them pulling it out of my pocket.

"-But we're sealed off - how did you get a signal?" Harriet asked me.

"He zapped it! Super-phone." I told her looking at the message from Mickey.

"Then we can phone for help! You must have contacts." Harriet asked the Doctor.

"Dead downstairs, yeah." He told her.

"It's Mickey." I told him while walking up to him looking at my phone.

"Oh, tell your sister's stupid boyfriend we're busy." he told me.

"Yeah, he's not so stupid after all." I told him handing him my phone. On the phone was a picture of a Slitheen in my kitchen.

"Call him." he told me as he gave me my phone back. I immediately dialed his number.

"Hello?" I heard on the other end.

"So I heard you saw another alien." I told him.

"No, no, no, no, no - not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!" He told me.

"I could've died!" I heard mum say.

"Is she alright, though? Don't put her on, just tell me." I told him, but I never got an answer because the Doctor snatched the phone from me.

"Is that Ricky? Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer." He told him. It was silent as Mickey replied to the Doctor. "Mickey the Idiot - I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but eh - I need you." I smiled at him saying what he had. "I there a way to have us all hear this?" he asked me. I looked at the large table in front of us and pointed out the black speaker. He walked over to it and plugged my phone into it. "Say again." He ordered Mickey.

"It's asking for the password." Mickey told him.

"Buffalo - two Fs, one L." The Doctor told him.

"So, what's that website?" I heard Mum ask.

"All the secret information known to mankind. See, they've known about aliens for years, they just kept us in the dark." I heard Mickey say.

"Mickey, you were born in the dark." The Doctor told him.

"At least you got his name right." I told the Doctor smiling.

"Oh, leave him alone. Both of you." Rose told us.

"Thank you. Password again." Mickey told us.

"Just repeat it, every time." The Doctor told him then turned to us. "Big Ben - why did the Slitheen hit Big Ben?" He asked to no one in particular.

"You said to gather the experts - to kill them." Harriet reminded him.

"That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon, you don't need to crash land in the middle of London." The Doctor told us.

"The Slitheen were hiding, murdering their way up to the top of the government - and then they put the entire planet on red alert, what would they do that for?" I asked walking up to him.

"Oh, listen to her." I heard Mum comment.

"At least I'm trying!" I snapped at her.

"Go easy on her, Ash." Rose told me.

"Well, I've got a question if you don't mind. Because since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter's disappeared off the face of the Earth." Mum told us. Harriet gave Rose and I a look on her face of disappointment, what did she know?

"I told you what happened." I told her trying to stop her from talking.

"I'm talking to him. 'Cause I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it. And maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this - is my daughter safe?" She asked him and he stared at the phone.

"I'm fine." I told her, despiratly trying to get her to stop making him look like that.

"Is she safe? Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that?" Mum asked ignoring me. He glanced to me and I stared back at him. "Well, what's the answer?" She waited in silence for her answer as the Doctor and I stared at each other.

"We're in." Mickey told us breaking my gaze away from the Doctor.

"-Right then - on the left, there's a tab - an icon - little concentric circles - click on that." The Doctor instructed him.

"What is it?" Mickey asked him.

"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal, now hush, let me work out what it's saying." He told him listening to the signal.

"He'll have to answer me one day." I heard mum say to no one.

"Hush!" Mickey told her. We sat in silence listening to the signal waiting for the Doctor to find out what it was saying.

"It's some sort of message." He told us.

"What's it say?" Rose asked him.

"Don't know - it's on a loop, keeps repeating." he told us.

"Like an annoying advertisement." I commented to them. We heard a noise from the other end of the phone blocking out a bit of the signal we were listening to.

"Hush!" The Doctor told Mickey and Mum.

"That's not me." Mickey told us. "Go and see who that is." he said talking to Mum.

"It's three o'clock in the morning." We heard Mum tell him and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Well go and tell them that." Mickey told her.

"It's beaming out into space, who's it for?" The Doctor said listening to the signal. We sat in silence for a moment just listening and waiting.

"It's him! It's the thing, it's the Slickeen!" We heard Mum shout out.

"They've found us." Mickey told us. I glanced at Rose and saw the worry and fear in her eyes that most likely mirrored my own.

"Mickey, I need that signal." the Doctor told him and I pushed him away from the phone making sure they could hear me.

"Never mind the signal, mum just get out! Get out! Get out!" I yelled into the phone.

"We can't, it's by the front door." Mickey told me. "Oh, my God. It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us." He told us.

INT. 10 DOWNING STREET, CABINET ROOM

"There's got to be some way of stopping them!" I looked up at Harriet as she spoke to us. "You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!" She demanded.

"I'm trying!" the Doctor yelled at her.

"I'll take it on, Jackie. You just run. Don't look back. Just run." We heard Mickey say before we heard the door smashing in.

"Doctor." He looked at me. "That's my mother. Some of the only family I have left." I told him quietly.

"Right! If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from - which planet. So, judging by their face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!" He told us.

"They're green." Rose told him.

"Yep, narrows it down."

"Uh, good sense of smell." I offered.

"Narrows it down."

"They can smell adrenaline." I told him.

"Narrows it down."

"The compression technology." Harriet offered.

"Narrows it down."

"The spaceship in the Thames - you said..." Rose said looking to me for help.

"Slipstream engine." I finished for her.

"Narrows it down." He said we heard wood breaking over the phone.

"It's getting in!" Mickey told us.

"Oh! They hunt like it's a ritual." Rose told him.

"Narrows it down."

"Hunt as a family." I told him.

"Narrows it down."

"Wait a minute! Did you notice, when they fart - if you'll pardon the word - it doesn't just smell like a fart - if you'll pardon the word - it's something else, what is it, it's more like uh... um..." Harriet lost her words.

"Bad breath!" I told her smiling.

"That's it!"

"Calcium decay! Now that narrows it down!" He told us grinning.

"We're getting there, mum!" Rose called to her.

"Too late!" Mickey told us.

"Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, creatures made out of living calcium, what else, what else - hyphenated sodium - yes! That narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorius!"

"Oh, yeah, great. We could write 'em a letter." Mickey told us sarcastically.

"Get into the kitchen!" The Doctor told them. We heard the door slam and items moving.

"My God, it's going to rip us apart!" Mum yelled over the phone.

"Calcium, recombined with compression field - ascetic acid. Vinegar!" He told us like we really knew what he was saying.

"Just like Hannibal!" Harriet said smiling back at him.

"Just like Hannibal. Mickey, have you got any vinegar?" The Doctor asked him.

"How should I know?" Mickey asked back and I rolled my eyes. If it weren't for Rose then I could swear that Mickey would possibly starve.

"It's your kitchen." The Doctor reminded him.

"Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf." Rose told him through the phone.

"Give it here, what do you need?" Mum said sounding clearer with the phone.

"Anything with vinegar!" I told her.

"Gherkins! Yeah! Pickled onions! Picked eggs!"

"You kiss this man?" The Doctor asked Rose and she gave him a look.

"Hopefully after he washes his mouth out." I said and he smiled at me. We heard the door give in and a splash. Everything was silent for a second before a small bang filled the phone; we all sighed in relief.

"Hannibal?" I asked looking at the man beside me, but Harriet answered me instead.

"Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar."

"Oh. Well, there you go then." Rose said and we raised our glasses in a toast.

"Cheers." I said and we all took a drink. "Phew!"

"Listen to this." Mickey said and we listened again.

"Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within 45 seconds." one of the Slitheen said over the tv.

"What?" The Doctor asked the phone in confusion.

"Our technicians can - baffle - the alien probes. But not for long. We are facing extinction. Unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg the United Nations - pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes! A nuclear strike at the heart of the ship is our only chance of survival. Because... from this moment on... it is my solemn duty to inform you... planet Earth is at war." He continued.

"He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it." The Doctor told the phone.

"They can't hear you, love." I reminded him.

"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet asked the Doctor.

"They did last time." Rose reminded her.

"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle. They want the whole world panicking, because you lot - you get scared, you lash out." The Doctor told us thinking aloud.

"They release the defense codes..." I said breaking off looking at him.

"And the Slitheen go nuclear." He said looking back at me.

"But why?" Harriet asked us. The Doctor walked to the door and opened the metal casing around us. Outside the door 3 Slitheen were standing outside the door.

The Doctor opens the metal shutters. The Slitheen are still standing outside the door.

"You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back. World War Three - whole planet gets nuked." The Doctor told them.

"And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed. Just parked. They'll be two minutes away." The woman told us still in her human skin.

"But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?" Harriet asked her.

"Profit. That's what the signal is beaming into space - an advert." The Doctor told us.

"Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chucks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel." she told us still smirking at us.

"At the cost of 5 billion lives." I said thinking of everyone I knew who were alive and walking around out side this building.

"Bargain." She said glancing at me.

"Then I give you the choice - leave this planet or I'll stop you." The Slitheen started laughing at him.

"What? You? Trapped in your box?" The woman in the skin suit asked him. The Doctor just stared at her not looking shaken at all.

"Yes. Me. Trapped in my box." He told her closing us back in our metal box. The woman laughed nervously and the smirk slowly faded as the metal door closed.

* * *

"Yesterday saw the start of a brave new world. Today might see it end. The streets are deserted. Everyone's home - just waiting. As the future is decided in New York." We heard over the phone from Mickey.

"It's midnight here in New York. The United Nations has gathered. England has provided them with absolute proof that the massive weapons of mass destruction do exist. The security counsel will be making a resolution in a matter of minutes." The american reporter said. "And once the codes are released, humanity's first interplanetary war begins." I sighed at the woman's words. There was not going to be an interplanetary war, just 5 billion dead humans.

"Alright, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do." Mum said over the phone.

"If we ferment the porch, we could make ascetic acid." Harriet offered. I walked to the Doctor and held his hand tightly. He gripped my hand and smiled gently at me.

"Mickey, any luck?" Rose asked her boyfriend.

"There's loads of emergency numbers - they're all on voicemail." He told us. The Doctor put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned on his chest. Rose looked to us and gave me a small smile and I smiled back at her.

"Voicemail dooms us all." Harriet told us and I laughed a little.

"If we could just get out of here..." Rose said looking around the room again.

"There's a way out." The Doctor told us. I moved from the safety of his side and looked at him in confusion.

"What?" I asked him.

"There's always been a way out." He said looking down at me.

"Then why don't we use it?" I asked him and he walked over to the phone still holding my hand.

"Because I can't guarantee your daughters will be safe." He told Mum.

"Don't you dare. Whatever it is, don't you dare." Mum told him.

"That's the thing, if I don't dare, everyone dies." He told her and I looked to Harriet to Rose.

"Do it." I told him looking back at him. The Doctor quickly looked at me and stared into my eyes.

"You don't even know what it is, you'd just let me?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I told him nodding with a slight smile. He just stared at me as though he couldn't believe my words.

"Please, Doctor. Please! They're my daughters, they're just a children!" Mum begged him.

"Do you think I don't know that? Because this is my life, Jackie, it's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will." He told her staring at me.

"I've seen you do incredible things in just a short time, you never hesitated to save everyone. What're you waiting for this time?" I asked him putting my hand on his cheek moving my thumb in small circles.

"I could save the world but lose you." He told me. I felt tears well up in my eyes and I smiled at him.

"Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine." Harriet said and my head snapped to her.

"And who the hell are you?" Mum asked angrily.

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people I command you. Do it." She told him. He looked back to me for a brief moment and we grinned at each other. He pulled me to the defense protocols and started looking through them.

"How do we get out?" Rose asked him sitting on the table.

"We don't. We stay here." He told us.

"The counsel is voting. The results should be known any second now." We heard over the phone as the Doctor shuffled through the protocols for a few more seconds then turned back to the phone.

"Use the buffalo password, it overrides everything." The Doctor told him.

"What're you doing?" I heard Mum ask.

"Hacking into the Royal Navy. We're in. Here it is, uh... H.M.S. Taurean, Trafalgar Class Submarine, 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth." Mickey told us.

"Right, we need to select a missile." The Doctor told him.

"We can't go nuclear, we don't have the defense codes." Mickey reminded him.

"We don't need it, all we need is an ordinary missile. What's the first category?" The Doctor asked him.

"Sub Haffoon, UGMA4A."

"That's the one. Select." The Doctor told him.

"I could stop you." I heard Mum said and we just listened to what was going on in silence. I looked to Rose and she just nodded to me.

"Do it, then." Mickey told mum.

"Ready for this?" The Doctor asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah."

"Mickey the Idiot. The world is in your hands. Fire." The Doctor told him.

"Oh, my God." I heard Mum say and the signaled us that he'd fired the missile. Harriet tapped the shutters on the window then turned to us.

"How solid are these?" She asked him.

"Not solid enough, built for short range attack, nothing this big." The doctor told her and pulled me close to him.

"Alright. Now I'm making the decision. I'm not gonna die, we're gonna ride this one out." Rose said opening the cupboard and looked inside it. "It's like what they say about earthquakes, you can survive 'em by standing under a door frame. Now this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me! Come on!" Harriet hurried to help her. I moved to pull away from the Doctor but he pulled me back to him.

"This could be it." he told me.

"At least it's not a dungeon in Cardiff." I joked with him and he smiled slightly. "Don't worry, Tyler women are stubborn women. You let me stay with you after this and you'll learn that real good. There's more for us to do out there, I promise. " I told him kissing him on the cheek before going to help Rose and Harriet with the cupboard.

"The vote is in. The counsel says... yes. They are releasing the codes." we heard over the phone.

"It's on radar. Counter defense 556." Mickey told us.

"Stop them intercepting it." The Doctor ordered as we moved the dead body, skin suit, shelves and anything else we could move from the closet.

"I'm doing it now." Mickey told him.

"Good boy."

"556 neutralized." The Doctor ripped my mobile off the speaker and tossed it to me.

"Mickey tell Mum we'll see her in a bit." I told him hanging up. We all bundled into the cupboard corner with Harriet and I on either side of the Doctor.

"Nice knowing you both." Harriet said as we all held hands. "Hannibal!" The Doctor and I laughed and we braced ourselves. for impact. Suddenly, we were shaking and being thrown around in out little corner. After a while all the shaking and tumbling stopped and we all emerged from the wreckage looking around.

"Made in Britain." Harriet said commenting on the craftsmanship of the office. One of the military boys hurried over to us.

"Are you alright?" He asked us. Harriet flashed her ID card at him.

"Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately, tell the ambassadors the crisis is over and they can step down. Go on, tell the news!" She said waving him off.

"Yes, ma'am." He said hurrying away.

"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord! We haven't even got a Prime Minister!" Harriet said turning to us.

"Well, maybe you should have a go." The Doctor told her holding my hand tightly.

"Me?" She asked him laughing slightly. "I'm only a back-bencher."

"I'd vote for ya!" I told her smiling.

"Now, don't be silly." She told us. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help." She said and started climbing over the rubble towards the crowd of people. "Hang on! The Earth is safe! Sergeant!" She called to them. The three of us started walking together off the rubble.

"I thought I knew the name." He told us as we watched her. "Harriet Jones - future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms - the architect of Britain's Golden Age." We watched her for a moment and then walked away.

* * *

Rose and I walked into the flat and was greeted by a huge hug form mum. I hugged her and Rose tightly and closed my eyes, happiness flooding every part of my body. A short time later Rose and I were sitting on the chair in front of the TV, watching what we'd walked away from earlier.

"Mankind stands tall - proud -" she said as Mum came in.

"Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her! Taking all the credit. Should be you on there. My daughters saved the world!" Mum told the TV.

"I think the Doctor helped a bit..." I told her looking at the tea she just brought us.

"Oh, alright then. Him too. You should be given knighthoods." She told us sitting down and I laughed a little.

"That's not the way he does things. No fuss, he just... moves on. He's not that bad if you gave him a chance." I told her.

"He's good in a crisis, I'll give him that." I burst out laughing at her statement.

"Oh! Now the world has changed, you're saying nice things about him." Rose said with her own laugh.

"Well, I reckon I've got no choice! There's no getting rid of him since Ashlee's infatuated." She said going back to the kitchen. I just smiled into my tea cup and avoided both of their gazes. "What does he eat?" Mum asked randomly.

"How do you mean?" I asked her.

"I was gonna do shepherds pie." I laughed quietly from my seat and stared out the window at the TARDIS. "All of us. A proper sit down. 'Cause... I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and him and that life you lead. Only, I dunno, he's an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things."

"He'll have shepherd pie. You're gonna cook for him?" I asked looking back at her.

"What's wrong with that?" She asked me.

"Nothing, just hope he has a strong stomach." I said leaning back again.

"He's finally met his match." Rose told me.

"You're not too old for a slap, you know. both of you." she told us and my smile grew as Rose giggled at her. "You can go and visit your gran tomorrow." I shook my head at her. I'd be gone by then. My mobile started ringing and I pulled it out quickly. "You'd better learn some French. I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing." I looked at the caller ID and saw TARDIS complete with a small police box icon. I looked at my phone in confusion before answering it; Rose moving closer to me.

"Hello?"

"Right, I'll be a couple of hours, then we can go. Tell Rose she can come along if she wants, I know she's listening." He told me.

"You've got a phone?" I asked him.

"Uou think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone?" I heard him laugh and smiled. "Like I said, couple of hours... I've just got to send out this dispersal... There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up."

"My mother's cooking." I told him.

"Good! Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer." The Doctor joked and I laughed slightly.

"She's cooking tea. For us." I told him.

"I don't do that." He told me firmly.

"She wants to get to know you." I said leaning my head onto Rose's so she could hear better.

"Tough! I've got better things to do!" He told me.

"It's just tea." I told him. It felt like more than that to me but I was trying to get him to come over not run away from me.

"Not to me it isn't." He told me.

"She's my mother." I reminded him.

"Well, she's not mine!" He fired back at me.

"That's not fair!" I told him.

"Well, you can stay there if you want! But right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the horse head nebula." He told me and I couldn't help but smile at the thought. "Fires are burning 10 million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out - hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice." He waited for a moment for my answer.

"I hate you." I told him smiling. He just laughed and hung up the phone knowing he had me.

"What do you say, Rose? Want to go traveling?" I asked her and she smiled at me. We jumped up and went to our room to pack what we'd need. I packed my books and other valuable items. With the size of the TARDIS wardrobe I would never need to pack clothes when I was with him. I got the pocket watch that Rose gave back to me and put it in my pocket.

"I was wondering whether he drinks or not." I turned around and saw Mum and Rose. Rose was fully packed and waiting on me.

"Yeah, he does." I told her zipping up my pack.

"Don't go." I heard her say. I stopped for a moment and looked back at her. "Please don't go." I looked back to my pack and picked it up going to the door, avoiding her gaze. The three of us walked outside towards the TARDIS.

"I'll get a proper job. I'll work weekends, I'll pass my test and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will." Mum told us as we walked.

"We're not leaving 'cos of you. We're travelling, that's all. And then we'll come back!" Rose told her.

"But it's not safe." Mum reminded us. I knew that when I ran to the Doctor the first time, that wasn't going to stop me now.

"Mum... if you saw it out there... you'd never stay home." I told her. I turned to the Doctor taking my backpack off my shoulders.

"Got enough stuff?" He asked me sarcastically. I tossed him the bag and held on to it for a moment.

"Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment. Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me. Haha." I told him giving him a bit of a flirty smile. I turned and saw Rose go to Mickey while Mum looked the Doctor and I up and down.

"Come with us. There's plenty of room." Rose told him. Mickey looked over her shoulder to us and I looked at the Doctor. It was his home, his decision.

"No chance, he's ah, a liability, I'm not having him on board." I smiled at him. It sounded like an excuse.

"We'd be dead without him." Rose reminded him.

"My decision is final." The Doctor told her. Rose turned back to Mickey and I felt something hit my leg lightly. I looked down and picked it up. It was a picture someone took of the TARDIS with BAD WOLF written in block paint on it.

"Looks like someone really liked their art." I told the Doctor handing him the picture. He looked at the picture for a while then back to me.

"It's nothing. Just some kid." He told me smiling.

"Good luck, then." Mickey told us. "Hey, Ash." looked at him questioningly. "I'm sorry." I smiled and nodded at him.

"You still can't promise me. What if they gets lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, and they're left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away - how long do I wait then?" Mum asked the Doctor. The Doctor stood there hugging my bag and me when I pulled away to rescue him.

"Mum. You're forgetting - it's a time machine. I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe and by the time I get back, yeah - ten seconds would have passed. Just ten seconds." I ran my hair through her hair and smiled at her. "So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds time. Hmm?" I asked her giving her a hug. The Doctor stepped into the TARDIS with my pack and I followed him with Rose behind me.


	6. Dalek

**I want to thank all my devoted readers! You are what keeps me going with all my stories. While I love everything I wright your reviews keep a smile on my face and your ideas just might end up in one of the chapter.**

**Sanura Bey**

* * *

"So, what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked as we stepped out of the TARDIS.

**"**Don't know, some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course..." He told us rubbing the outside of the TARDIS. I looked around to try and see where and when we were, but all I could see was darkness.

"Where are we?" I asked him turning back to him.

**"**Earth, Utah, North America. About half a mile underground." He told me smiling.

**"**And... when are we?" I asked with a smile growing on my face.

**"**2012."

**"**God, that's so close, so I should be... 26." Rose said looking between both of us.

"Oh, God. I'd be 28." I said as The Doctor flicked a switch and lights flooded the place.

"Blimey! It's a great big museum!" Rose said as we looked around.

**"**An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must've spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust... that's the milometer from the Roswell Spaceship." The Doctor said as we passed exhibits. We noticed a Slitheen arm in a case.

"That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm, it's been stuffed." I said and Rose and I stopped to look at it. I noticed the Doctor walking away from us to another display.

"Ah! Look at you!" Inside the glass case he was approaching was a head. The Doctor stared through the glass at it while Rose and I stood behind him.

"What is it?" I asked him.

**"**An old friend of mine... well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old." He said staring at the head.

**"**Is that where the signal's coming from?" I asked him.

**"**Nah, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out." He said staring at the glass. _"_Calling for help." He placed his finger on the glass and immediately an alarm went off. Promptly we were surrounded by soldiers all pointing their guns at us.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A." I said looking to him. He looked at me then back to the soldiers, flashing a grin and I laughed.

* * *

We followed a red haired woman into a large office with an older man and a younger man behind it. The younger man was showing the older man a small object.

"What does it do?" He asked grabbing the item from the younger man.

"Well you see, the tubes on the side must be to channel something, I think maybe fuel..." the younger man, now known to be Brittish, told him.

**"**I really wouldn't hold it like that." The Doctor told them.

**"**Shut it." The red haired woman snapped at him.

**"**Really, though, that's wrong." The Doctor told them, ignoring her.

**"**Is it dangerous?" The British boy asked.

**"**No. Just looks silly." He told them. He held his hand out for the item and the security in the room readied their guns. The older man held up his hand for them to halt their actions and handed the item to the Doctor. "You just need to be..." He ran his fingers over the item and it played a note, like a harmonica and I smiled. "... delicate." The Doctor beamed around the room whilst he played a beautiful song from the instrument.

**"**It's a musical instrument." the older man said smiling.

"And it's a long way from home." The Doctor told him.

"Here, let me." The older man said standing. He grabbed it off the Doctor who raised his eyebrows at him.

_He grabs it off the Doctor, who raises his eyebrows._

**"**I did say 'delicate'. Reacts to the smallest fingerprint." The Doctor instructed. The man couldn't make it play at first and could only make a series of bleeping noises. "It needs precision." The man touched it gently and it played a few notes and the Doctor smiled at him. "Very good. Quite the expert." The Doctor complemented him.

**"**As are you." The man said tossing the instrument aside landing somewhere on the floor. I looked at him alarmed at how he could have done something like that. "Who exactly are you?" The Doctor looked at the man with a disdainful look in his eye.

"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" He asked him.

**"**Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world and you just stumbled in by mistake?" The man asked glancing at the three of us.

**"**Pretty much sums me up, yeah." The Doctor told him.

**"**The question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down. With your little cat burglar accomplices." The man looked both Rose and I from top to bottom. _"_Quite a collector yourself, they're rather pretty." He said looking back to the Doctor grinning.

"I'm gonna smack you if you keep talking about us like that." I told him and the Doctor grabbed my hand so I could hold something, possibly grip his hand to death.

"One's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy - got you a couple girlfriends." The older man told the British boy.

**"**This is Mr Henry Van Statten." the boy introduced the older man to us.

**"**And who's he when he's at home?" Rose asked him.

**"**Mr Van Statten owns the Internet." The boy told us.

**"**Don't be stupid, no one owns the Internet." Rose said giving the boy a look.

**"**And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten said with a weird smile on his face.

**"**So you're an expert on just about everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." The Doctor said getting the attention off Rose.

**"**And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten asked him.

**"**I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." The Doctor told him and I smiled.

**"**And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" Van Statten asked us.

**"**You tell me." The Doctor said, challenging him.

**"**The cage contains my one living specimen." Van Statten told us. That must have been who was sending out the signal!

**"**And what's that?" The Doctor asked him.

**"**Like you don't know." Van Statten told him, smiling more.

**"**Show me." The Doctor ordered.

**"**You wanna see it?" Van Statten asked him.

**"**You can almost cut the testosterone in here with a knife." I said to no one in particular, but it got them out of their staring contest.

**"**Goddard - inform the Cage. We're heading down." Van Statten ordered walking around his desk and the woman who walked us in nodded to him. "You - English. Look after the girl. Canoodle or spoon, or whatever it is you British do. And you - Doctor with no name..." He turned from the lift. "Come and see my pet." We walked to the lift and waited for the appropriate floors.

"You two don't wander around and don't get into trouble." He said giving us a look.

"You know us." I told him smiling as Rose, Van Statten's boy and I got off the lift.

* * *

The boy, who's name I finally learned was Adam, showed us around his work area trying to impress us.

"Sorry about the mess. Mr Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing. So long as I deliver the goods..." He told us. Rose prodded a few things as she walked around. "What do you think - that is?" He asked handing Rose an object. Was he trying to flirt with her?

"Er... a lump of metal?" Rose said looking from it to him.

**"**Yeah. Yeah, but I think- well, I'm almost certain - it's from the hull of a spacecraft." He told us excitedly. Rose handed me the piece of metal and I placed it down carefully where I thought a table might have been at one point. "The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet - spacecrafts - aliens - visitors to Earth - they really exist." Adam said looking between the two of us. We definitely knew that already.

**"**That's amazing." I told him hoping Rose would go with what I was doing.

**"**I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe that the whole universe is teeming with life." Adam told us grinning widely.

"I'm gob-smacked, yeah. And you do what? Sit here and catalog it?" Rose asked him smiling.

**"**Best job in the world." Adam told us.

**"**Imagine if you could get out there. Travel among the stars and see it for real." Rose told him.

**"**Yeah... I'd give anything. But I don't think it's ever gonna happen - not in our lifetimes." He told her. She looked to me and smiled.

**"**Oh, you never know... what about all those people who say they've been inside spaceships and things and talked to aliens?" I asked him.

**"**I think they're nutters." Adam told me.

**"**Yeah, me too." Rose told him laughing. _"_So, how'd you end up here?" she asked him.

**"**Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit." Adam told us.

**"**Ah, right, you're a genius." I said holding up some of the strange items in the room.

**"**Sorry, but yeah... can't help it, I was born clever." He said flirting with us and Rose gave a flirty smile back. "When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defence System - nearly caused World War Three." He said smiling.

**"**What, and that's funny is it?" I asked him, remembering our world war three prevention with Harriet.

**"**Well you should've been there! Just to see them running about! Fantastic!" He told us.

**"**You sound like the Doctor." Rose said looking to me and I smiled at the thought. This was just a boy next to my Doctor.

**"**Are either of you and him...?" He asked looking between the two of us.

**"**No, we're just friends." I told him quickly.

"Good." Adam said nodding and looking away.

"Why's it good?" Rose asked him.

**"**Just is." He said looking back at her and I felt extremely awkward.

"So... wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Van Statten's got a living creature down there." I said breaking their moment.

**"**Yeah... yeah well I did ask but he keeps it to himself. Although - if you're a genius - it does take long to patch in on the comm system." He said smiling at the two of us.

"Let's have a look then." Rose said laughing. Adam turned to the computer and tapped some keys while Rose and I observed over his shoulder. "It doesn't do much - the alien. It's weird, it's kind of... useless, it's just like this... great big pepper pot." He told us as a picture came up. We watched as a man approached the alien and began to torture it with a device making it sceam in pain.

"It's being tortured! Where's the Doctor?" I demanded to know alarmed that he hadn't done anything for it yet.

**"**I don't know." Adam told me. I turned from the screen to the door and began walking out.

**"**Take me down there. Now!" I demanded not waiting to know if they followed me.

* * *

We stood outside the cell following Adam and I immediately walked to the door.

"Hold it right there!" One of the guards said trying to stop me.

"Level three access. Special clearance from Mr Van Statten." Adam said flashing an ID at him. We passed up another man and entered the cage. I just stared at the creature. It was covered in chains keeping it locked in place.

"Don't get too close..." I looked over my shoulder at Adam and Rose who were staying closer to the door then back to the creature. I walked slowly to it and peered into what I hoped was its eyepiece as I thought it watched me.

"Hello?" I said. It didn't answer, just watched. "Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler. I've got a friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?" I asked it.

**"**Yes." It said. It's voice sounded kinda scratchy.

**"**What?" I asked it. It raised what I thought was its eyepiece to look at me.

"I am in pain. They tortured me. But still they fear me. Do you fear me?" It asked me.

**"**No." I told him and it lowered it's eyepiece.

"I am dying." he told me.

**"**No, we can help!" I told it walking closer to it.

**"**I welcome death. But I am glad... that before I die... I met a human who was not afraid." It told me raising its eyepiece again. I couldn't help but feel sadness and pity for this creature and I didn't even know its name.

"Isn't there anything I can do?" I asked it.

**"**My race is dead. I shall die alone." I felt the tears run down my face and I put my hand on it gently to try and comfort it.

"Ashlee, no!" Adam yelled at me. The place where my had was suddenly burned bright orange around my hand and I quickly snatched it away due to the heat.

"Genetic material extrapolated - initiate cellular reconstruction!" It said and its voice had changed drastically. It burst out of its chains as sparks flew from it and a man walked in.

"What the hell have you done?" He asked me as he approached the creature. It pointed a sucker thing at him in response.

"Whatcha gonna do? Sucker me to death?" The man asked sarcastically but that was just what the creature did. It placed the sucker over his face and I could hear his skull cracking as it sucked inwards. Adam grabbed my arm as He Rose and I rushed out of the cage.

"It's killing him! Do something!" I told the guard.

"Condition red! Repeat, condition red! This is not a drill!" The guard called over the intercom.

* * *

**"**You've got to keep it in that cell." I turned to a screen and saw the Doctor on it and I rushed to it.

**"**Doctor, it's all my fault." I told him.

**"**I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations." the guard told him ignoring me.

**"**The Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat." the Doctor told him. We looked at a screen next to the one with the Doctor on it and saw the Dalek place its sucker on the code pad and begin to run all the combinations. The guards pushed us away from the screen behind them as the prepared for the Dalek to come through the door. And in no time, the door opened.

"Open fire!" the guard ordered and they all shot at the Dalek,

"Don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!" I heard Van Statten say over the screen.

**"**Ashlee, Rose, get out of there!" The Doctor called to us and that was the order I was willing to follow as the Dalek advanced on us.

"De Maggio - take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?" The head guard ordered the female guard.

"You - with me." De Maggio said and we followed her out of the room quickly. We ran through many hallways and didn't pass anyone until a small hallway with guards stationed along the wall.

"Civilians! Let them through!" De Maggio said as we continued running behind her. I just hoped we got to where the Doctor was soon. We soon ran across a flight of stairs.

**"**Stairs! That's more like it!" Rose said coming up behind me with Adam. "It hasn't got legs, it's stuck!" I looked at her and we smiled at the news. De Maggio soon ran up behind us.

"It's coming! Get up!" She ordered and we ran up the stairs and looked over the banisters to watch the Dalek. As we'd hoped it stopped at the base of the stairs and Adam breathed a sigh of relief. I ran its eyepiece over the stairs

_They run up the stairs and look over the banisters to watch the Dalek. It stops at the foot of the stairs. Adam breathes a small sigh of relief. It runs its eyepiece over the stairs to us._

"Great big alien death machine. Defeated by a flight of stairs." Adam mocked it.

"Maybe you shouldn't do that." I told him.

"Now, listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate, then I guarantee that Mr Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong. But people have died, and that stops. Right now. The killing stops, have you got that?" De Maggio asked it but it just stared at us saying nothing. "I demand that you surrender, is that clear?" She asked once more and we waited for a a moment for it to answer.

"El-ev-ate." We watched in horror as the Dalek levitated in the air and floated up the first few steps of the stairs.

"Oh my God." Rose said as we watched it.

"I told you you shouldn't have mocked it!" I said hitting Adam in the arm as the Dalek proceeded up the stairs.

**"**Adam, get them out of here." De Maggio ordered.

"Come with us, you can't stop it!" I told her.

**"**Someone's got to try. Now get out!" She said pushing us away. "Don't look back, just run!" I looked at her for a brief moment before Rose grabbed my arm and pulled me up with her up the stairs. Moments later, we heard De Maggio scream as we ran terrified of what could happen to us. We eventually found our way to a large room with a ton of people pointing guns at us. We stopped right in the middle of the room.

"Hold your fire! You two, get the hell out of there!" We continued running out the other way as I heard the Dalek making its way to them. I turned and looked at it and watched it enter the room slowly. It stopped and focused on everyone until it found me. It just stared until Adam grabbed my arm and pulled me away with him and Rose.

"It was looking at me." I told them. Rose gave me a curious look as Adam just looked at me like I was an idiot.

**"**Yeah, it wants to slaughter us!" He told me and I pulled my arm away from him.

"I know! But it was looking right at me." I told him.

"So? It's just a sort of metal eye thing, it's looking all around!" Adam told me impatiently and I shook my head at him.

"I don't know... it's like there's something inside looking at me, like... like it knows me." I said looking to Rose, knowing she'd understand. We came across another stairwell with Adam in the lead and Rose right behind him. I wanted to make sure she was safe from that thing. Suddenly, my mobile went off and I answered without looking at the caller ID.

**"**This isn't the best time." I told whoever it was on the other end.

**"**Where are you?" I heard the Doctor ask me clearly.

**"**Level 49." I told him as I passed the large numbers.

"You've got to keep moving - the vault's being sealed off, bulkhead level 46." He told me.

**"**Can't you stop them closing?" I asked him. It seemed like that'd be easy for him.

**"**I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run." He told me.

"Leg it you two! They're closing the bulkheads on level 46!" I called the the other two.

"Cant the Doctor stop them?" Rose called back to me.

"He's in control." I told her and we ran a little faster. We ran as fast as we could up 3 flights of stairs with me still on the phone with the Doctor and the Dalek in pursuit.

"Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads." I heard Van Statten say.

**"**The Dalek's right behind them." Goddard told the two men in the room with her.

"Yea, thanks for the update but I could have told you that." I told her into the phone and I heard the Doctor laugh slightly. We rounded a corner and I saw the numbers for floor 46. "We're nearly there, give us two seconds." I told him.

**"**Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing." I heard Van Statten say to him. "Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads."

"Doctor you do what you have to do. Protect as many people as you can Adam, Rose and I will just have to move faster." I told him, knowing the pressure that was on him.

"I'm sorry." He told me and the bulkheads began to lower. Adam and Rose were the closest to them.

"Ash! Hurry up!" Rose called as they cleared the bulkhead. I watched the bulkhead close right in front of me and I leaned my head against it. I knew he would blame himself, but when he asked I had to make sure he knew this wasn't his fault.

**"**Ash, where are you? Ashlee, did you make it?" I heard him ask me. I waited a moment before answering the question.

"Sorry, I was a bit slow." I told him. "But Rose and Adam made it, so I'm okay." I told him turning to watch the Dalek round the corner. I turned back to the bulkhead and felt the tears well up in my eyes. "See you then, Doctor." the tears began to fall and I knew he'd hear it in my voice. "It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what?" I asked him smiling with my voice trembling. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." I turned around slowly to face the Dalek as it approached me. "Make sure Rose knows that this isn't her fault either. I love you."

"Exterminate!" I closed my eyes ready for it to kill me but nothing happened. I opened my eyes cautiously and looked at it. Not that I'm complaining but why am I not dead?

**"**Go on then, kill me." I told it angrily. "Why are you doing this?" I asked it finally.

**"**I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose." It told me.

**"**They're all dead because of you!" I shouted at it.

**"**They are dead because of us." My eyes widened at its words.

"And now what? What're you waiting for?" I asked him again.

**"**I feel your fear." It told me.

**"**What do you expect?!" I asked it.

**"**Daleks do not fear. Must not fear." It shot its death ray wildly at the wall on either side of me and I closed my eyes and screamed a little again. "You gave me life. What else have you given me? I am contaminated!" It told me and I just looked at it. The Dalek moved its head to a screen and it came to life showing Van Statten's office. Van Statten, Goddard, Adam, Rose and the Doctor all looked at it in shock and I just smiled at my sister and the man I loved. "Open the bulkhead or Ashlee Tyler dies." The Dalek told them. The Doctor took a few steps toward their screen, an expression of joy and relief on his face.

"You're alive!" He said smiling at me.

**"**Can't get rid of me that easily. Us Tyler women are a stubborn lot and you've got 3 to deal with for the rest of my life." I told him.

**"**I thought you were dead." He told me and I smiled at him.

**"**Open the bulkhead!" The Dalek ordered.

**"**Don't do it!" I told him.

**"**What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" I looked at the Doctor and he looked at me and the Dalek stunned. He turned back to Van Statten, who was looking at him in shock.

"I killed her once." He said going to the computer. _"_I can't do it again." He turned back to the screen as the bulkhead beside me went up. The Dalek looked at me and I went through it first. We walked to the lift then the Dalek started it up. I watched the arm with the ray twitch slightly.

**"**I'm begging you, don't kill them - you didn't kill me." I reminded it. The Dalek spun it's head to me so quickly I had to duck not to get knocked out.

"But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?" It asked me and I held no answer. When the lift door opened Van Statten was standing there, waiting for us. I looked around the room for Rose or the Doctor but saw no sign of them.

"Don't move! Don't do anything, it's beginning to question itself." I told Van Statten. The Dalek advanced on Van Statten, its tormentor.

**"**Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?" The Dalek asked him.

"I wanted to help you, I just- I don't know, I - I was just trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you- I wanted you better, I'm sorry." He said terrified of it, as he should have been. "I'm so sorry! I swear! I just wanted you to talk!"

**"**Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate!" Van Statten winced away from him. "Exterminate!" I rushed over to it.

**"**Don't do it! Don't kill him!" I told him. The Dalek spun to face me again and I stared right into its eyepiece. "You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else. Not just killing- what else is there? What d'you want?" I asked it. I looked at Van Statten then to me. "I want freedom."

"Then let's go." I told it and it went back to the lift me me following it. Eventually we made it to the first floor and the Dalek fired its ray to the ceiling, making a hole for the sunlight to flood in from. It shone on the Dalek and I looked up at it smiling.

"You're out. You made it." I told it smiling. "Never thought I'd see the sunlight again." I said looking down at it.

**"**How... does... it... feel?" It asked me opening up its casing to reveal a mutate creature inside. It stretched its feelers out into the sunlight and I smiled slightly.

"Get out of the way." I turned quickly to see the Doctor holding a gun with Rose behind him. He pointed it at the Dalek and I didn't budge. "Ashlee, get out of the way, now!"

**"**No! 'Cos I won't let you do this!" I told him. This wasn't him. This wasn't my Doctor.

**"**That thing killed hundreds of people." he reminded me.

**"**It's not the one pointing the gun at anyone." I reminded him looking down to the weapon.

**"**I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left." He told me and I felt my heart hurt at his words.

**"**Look at it." I told him standing aside just enough for him to see the Dalek feeling the sun.

"What's it doing?" She asked, confused by its actions.

**"**It's the sunlight, that's all it wants!" I told them, smiling.

"But it can't..." The Doctor broke off his sentence.

**"**It couldn't kill Van Statten - it couldn't kill me - it's changing. What about you, Doctor? Are you willing to change into something better?" I asked him. He finally dropped the gun and looked at me completely lost. He walked to me, close to tears, for what had and was going to happen.

"I couldn't..." I grabbed his hand for comfort. "I wasn't..." He looked to the Dalek then back to me. "Ash, they're all dead."

**"**Why do we survive?" The Dalek asked behind me.

**"**I don't know." The Doctor answered it honestly and I smiled.

"I am the last of the Daleks." The Dalek said coming to terms with what it was.

"You're not even that. Ashlee did more than regenerate you. You absorbed her DNA. You're mutating." The Doctor told it.

**"**Into what?" it asked him.

**"**Something new. I'm sorry." I looked at the Doctor confused.

**"**Isn't that better?" Rose asked him standing next to me.

**"**Not for a Dalek." The Doctor told her as we looked at the Dalek.

**"**I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness... Ashlee... give me orders! Order me to die." It requested. I looked at it then to the Doctor to see him looking at me.

"You can't do that." Rose told him.

**"**This is not life. This is sickness." the Dalek said drawing my attention to it. "I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!" I stared at it, basking in the sunlight, and knew what I had to do. It wanted freedom and that's what I would give it.

"Do it." I told it and the Doctor pulled me closer to him, hugging me.

**"**Are you frightened, Ashlee Tyler?" It asked me.

**"**Yeah."

**"**So am I. Exterminate." We moved back as the Dalek replaced its armor and levitated into the air. The golden knobs detached themselves to surround the Dalek in a perfect sphere and it glowed briefly, and then exploded inside the sphere, vanishing into nothing.

* * *

Back in the exhibit room, Rose, the Doctor and I stood by the TARDIS. The Doctor had his hand on it, looking at it pensively.

"Little piece of home. Better than nothing." the Doctor told us.

**"**Is that the end of it? The Time War?" I asked him. I'd have to explain the Time War to Rose before we got to our next destination.

"I'm the only one left. I win. How about that." He said smiling at me.

**"**The Dalek survived... maybe some of your people did too." I suggested.

"I'd know. In here." He said gesturing to his head. _"_Feels like there's no one." he told me. I walked up to him and hugged him tightly, laying my head on his chest listening to the sound of his hearts beating.

**"**Well then - good thing I'm not going anywhere." I told him and he hugged me close.

"Yeah." I heard someone come up to us and looked to see Adam.

"We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared... they're closing down the base.Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement! Like it never existed!" He said looking crest fallen about the idea.

**"**About time." I told him moving to stand next to the Doctor, never moving my arm.

**"**I'll have to go back home." He told us.

**"**Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at 1500 hours." The Doctor told him getting his key out of his pocket. I moved so he could get to the door better.

"Adam was saying that all his life he's wanted to see the stars..." Rose told us.

**"**Tell him to go and stand outside, then." the Doctor told her and I smiled.

**"**He's all on his own, Doctor. And he did help." She reminded him.

**"**He left your sister down there!" he told her.

**"**So did you!" she retaliated.

**"**What're you talking about? We've got to leave!" Adam said from behind Rose.

"Rose, he's a bit pretty." I told her. The Doctor's eyes snapped to me quickly but my eyes were glued to Rose.

"I hadn't noticed." She told me innocently.

"I bet you didn't." I said looking from her to the Doctor. He rolled his eyes and turned to the TARDIS.

"On your own head." He told her and she smiled.

**"**What're you doing? She said 'cement'. She wasn't joking, we're going to get sealed in." Adam reminded us as we walked into the TARDIS leaving him outside alone. Rose waited by the doors for him as the Doctor and I went to the console.

"You said something down there to me, over the phone." He said bringing my attention back to when I thought I was going to die.

"I did." I confirmed.

"Was it true?" he asked me and I gave him a look.

"If I said it then it is true. I wouldn't lie about loving someone." I told him smiling. He smiled back and got ready to leave.

**"**Doctor? What're you doing standing inside a box? Ashlee? Rose?" Adam peered through the doors and stepped inside. The Doctor started the engines and we left for the vortex.


	7. The Long Game

**I want to thank all my devoted readers! You are what keeps me going with all my stories. While I love everything I wright your reviews keep a smile on my face and your ideas just might end up in one of the chapter.**

**Sanura Bey**

* * *

After our encounter with the Dalek and adding Adam to our team, the Doctor wanted to surprise us with our new destination. When the TARDIS stopped its whirring, the Doctor, Rose and I stepped out.

"So, it's 200,000, it's a spaceship... no wait a minute, space station, and uh... go and try that gate over there. Off you go!" He told us, leaning against the TARDIS motioning to a door.

"200,000?" Rose asked him, making sure that she'd heard him right.

"200,000." he confirmed for her.

"'Kay." She told him walking back to the TARDIS. I leaned against the time machine next to my Doctor and laughed at his raised eyebrows. Rose opened the door and called to the boy inside. "Adam? Out you come." Adam soon stepped out with his mouth wide open catching flies.

"Oh my God." He said, turning making sure he saw everything.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." I told him.

"Where are we?" He asked us.

"Good question. Let's see. So, um... judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200,000." Adam nodded at Rose''s words and mumbled an okay, still boggled by the sites. "If you listen... engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down... Tell you what - let's try that gate. Come on!" She walked to the gate the Doctor had pointed out to us earlier and didn't wait for us before walking in herself. The Doctor grabbed my hand and we followed Adam and Rose into the other room.

"Don't worry she'll need you soon enough." I told the man at my side as we walked.

"What makes you think I'm worried?" He asked me.

"Oh, come on. You like impressing us with your knowledge and the wonderful sites and you know it. But sometimes a woman's touch is needed to impress a man." I told him smiling. "Rose just want's to impress her new boyfriend just like I impress you."

"And what makes you think you impress me?" He asked me with a joking smile.

"How else could you put up with me for so long?" I asked him.

"Because, believed it or not, I like having you around." he told me as we walked in Rose and Adam were staring out a large observation window at the Earth below us. "Here we go! And this is..." She paused as she got her first real look at the Earth. Adam held onto the rail tightly, as though he needed help to stand. "...I'll let the Doctor describe it." Rose said, staring awestruck at the view.

"The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is. Planet Earth at it's height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons - population 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species - with mankind right in the middle." The Doctor told us. We all stared down at our home then Adam fainted with a girlish sigh. None of us turned around to look at him.

"He's your boyfriend." I reminded Rose.

"Not anymore." She told me as we continued to admire the view.

* * *

"Come on, Adam. Open your mind." The Doctor told him as we walked around, the Doctor's arm around my shoulders and my hand in his. "You're gonna like this fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent - culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners-" A man bumped into us and turned back to face us, giving us a rude look.

"Out of the way!" He demanded and the station suddenly sprang to life around us. Food stalls were set up and people bustled past the four of us to queue up all talking around us.

"One at a time..." A chef called out. The stall keepers took their customer's orders as the Doctor looked around bemused at what was going on around us. "Oi! You, mate! Stop pushing. Get back. I SAID, back." I looked at the people and the food they carried then turned back to the Doctor.

"Fine cuisine?" I asked him

"My watch must be wrong." He told me checking his watch. "No, it's fine... weird."

"That's what comes of showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was." Rose told him as we walked around a little.

"My history's perfect." he told her.

"Do you remember what was supposed to be Naples 1960 turned out to be Cardiff 1969" I asked him.

"We did eventually go to Naples 1960." he reminded me.

"Yes and we got chased by the police because they thought you kidnapped me." I reminded him.

"They're all human. What about the millions of planets? The millions of species? Where are they?" Adam asked, bringing our attention back to this station.

"Good question. Actually, that IS a good question." The Doctor said jovially putting his other arm around Adam's shoulders. "Adam, me' old mate, you must be starving."

"No, I'm just a bit time sick." Adam told him.

"Nah, you just need a bit of grub." The Doctor told him then turned to the chef. "Oi, mate - how much is a cronk burger?"

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now, join the queue." he told him going back to his job.

"Money. We need money." The Doctor said running off. We followed him to what I guessed was a kind of ATM machine. "Have to use a cash point." he told us. The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver to the cash point and what must have been some futuristic version of a credit card falls out. The Doctor grabbed the metal strip looking item and handed it to Adam.

"There you go - pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets." he said, walking away a little.

"How does it work?" Adam asked him.

"Go and find out!" The Doctor told him, turning to him. "Stop nagging me! The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers." I laughed at him, remembering an incident where that happened and my reaction. "...or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go on, do it!" The Doctor said shooing him away.

"Have fun on your first date." I picked at Rose.

"You're going to get a smack, you are. Don't forget your own date." She said before following Adam. I looked at the Doctor smiling and he grinned at me. We walked around a little bit and his grin faded into a thoughtful look. He walked up to two women who were walking past us, chatting.

"Erm... this is gonna sound daft, but can you tell me where we are?" The Doctor asked them indicating to both of us.

"Floor 139... could they write it any bigger?" One of them asked us indicating to large letters and numbers saying FLOOR 139.

"Floor 139 of what?" I asked them

"Must've been a hell of a party." The first woman said looking to the two of us.

"Oh, you're on Satellite Five." the second woman told us smiling.

"What's Satellite Five?" the Doctor asked them.

"Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?" the first woman asked him.

"Look at me, I'm stupid." he says smiling at her.

"Hang on, wait a minute - are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?" the second woman asked us. The Doctor and I looked at each other and decided to go with it.

"You've got us. Well done. You're too clever for me." he said showing them the psychic paper.

"We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion." the second woman quoted.

"Right. Fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to Floor 500 I'll do anything." the first woman told us fixing herself up.

"Why, what happens on Floor 500?" I asked her.

"The walls are made of gold. And you should know... Mr. and Mrs. Management. So... this is what we do." she said leading us towards multiple screens. "Latest news... sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day... space lane 37 closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Bo has just announced he's pregnant."

"Oh, I get it. You broadcast the news." I said looking at the small screens.

"We ARE the news." the first woman told us as the second woman smiled at us. I smiled back at her as the first woman continued talking to us. "We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. 600 channels all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere. Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going though us." An alarm sounded over the intercom and everyone began to abandon the area.

"Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here!" The Doctor called to my sister and Adam. Rose beamed at us and immediately got up from their spot to join us, followed closely by Adam.

* * *

The six of us were soon joined by several others in a room, where the news casting took place. There was a chair in the middle of raised octagonal platform in the middle of the room, around which the other staff members were sitting cross legged. In front of them were pads on which to place their hands. The Doctor, Rose, Adam and I stood leaning against some railings at the side of the room. The first woman stood in the middle of the octagonal platform addressing the room.

"Now. Everybody behave. We have a management inspection." She turned to us. "How do you want it? By the book?"

"Oh, right from scratch, thanks." he told her grinning. She turned away and the Doctor and I turned to smirk at each other.

"Ok, so - ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot - my name is Cathica Santini Kadainy. That's Cathica with a 'C', in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please... do..." I smiled at her and watched the Doctor give her a non-committal jerk o f his head. "Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and be non-biased. That's company policy." she said turning to smile at us.

"Actually... it's the law." the second woman said smiling at us as well.

"Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm... don't show off for the guests... here we go." she said irritably to the woman then laid back on the chair. "And... engage safety..." the staff around her held out their hands over their hand pads each of the eight walls around us lighting up at their actions. Cathica clicked her fingers and a door on her forehead opened, revealing her brain. My face scrunched up in disgust at it, good thing I hadn't eaten. The staff around her placed their hands down on the pads in front of them and closed their eyes. "And 3... 2... and spike." From the contraption over the chair, a blue light spiked down into her brain, flowing information into her.

"Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain IS the computer." The Doctor explained to us.

"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius." I said looking at the information flowing.

"Nah. She wouldn't remember any. There's too much, her head would blow up." The Doctor told me as he began to walk around the room. I walked in the opposite direction from him as Rose and Adam stood by the door. "The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."

"So, what about all these people round the edge?" Rose asked as I knelt down by Suki.

"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place." he said completing his circuit around the room and leaned on the railing next to Adam. "Now, that's what I call power."

"You alright?" Rose asked Adam.

"I can see her brain." Adam said, pointing out the obvious to us.

"Like I said Adam, you'll get used to seeing weird thing." I told him.

"Do you want to get out?" Rose asked him.

"No... no. This is technology, it's... it's amazing." he told us.

"This technology's wrong." The Doctor told us and I immediately looked at him and smiled.

"Trouble?" I asked him.

"Oh yeah." he told me smiling at me and my smile grew. I was glad something was going wrong, it would have been boring if it hadn't.

"You would be excited for trouble." Rose told me. I turned to her and her smile gave her away, she was excited also. Suddenly there was a slight shuddering sound and Suki twitched. Suki then gasped and lifted her hands off the pad as though she has just received an electric shock. The other members of staff were forced to lift their own hands too and the lights in the walls turned off. The compressed information stopped streaming into Cathica and the door in her head closed as Suki rubbed her hands, breathing heavily.

"Come off it, Suki, I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?" Cathica asked, irritated that they were stopped.

"Sorry, must've been a glitch..." Suki told her as Cathica got off the table. A loudspeaker then sounded in the room and a projection sprang to life on the wall opposite us.

"Promotion."

"This is it. Come on. God, make it me. Come on, say my name." We looked at Cathica with mild concern over her praying just a tad too hard. "Say my name, say my name..."

"Promotion for... Suki Macrae Cantrell." Suki's name flashed on the projection and her mouth fell open while Cathica looked at the screen like she'd been gutted. "Please proceed to Floor 500." Suki stood quickly as she continued to stare at the projection.

"I don't believe it... Floor 500..." she said awestruck.

"How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you!" Cathica said.

"I don't know, I just applied on the off-chance... and they've said yes!" Suki said looking at us.

"That's so not fair, I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!" Cathica whined.

"What's Floor 500?" Rose asked us.

"The walls are made of gold." The Doctor and I said at the same time.

* * *

After Suki gathered her bags we met her by the lift to say goodbye. The only person not with us was Adam who was a little ways away staring at us.

"Cathica, I'm gonna miss you! Floor 500..." Suki said sincerely to Cathica before turning to the Doctor and I. "Thank you!"

"We didn't do anything!" I told her smiling.

"Well, you're my lucky charms!" She told us hugging me.

"All right! I'll hug anyone!" The Doctor said. She giggled at him then let go of me to hug him. I watched as Cathica looked anywhere but at Suki. Rose then walked up to me, I hadn't even noticed her leave us.

"Can I have your TARDIS key?" She asked me.

"Sure, are you and Adam going back?" I asked her.

"He's going to walk around for a moment and go back to the TARDIS if it gets too much." I gave her a look, I didn't know him well enough to trust him with the key.

"Don't give him the key." I told her trusting her with my key. She ran off to Adam and I turned back to Suki.

"Oh, my God, I've got to go, I can't keep them waiting-" I smiled at her as she picked up her bag and rushed to the lift. "I'm sorry!" She smiled as the lift pinged open and she stepped in. "Say goodbye to Steve for me." She said looking at Cathica. Rose joined us and we smiled at her as the lift closed. "Bye!" We waved cheerily at her and Cathica looked away sourly.

"Good riddance." She said and I turned to her.

"You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs." I reminded her.

"We won't. Once you go to Floor 500 you never come back." Cathica told us. I looked at the Doctor then at the closed lift. Cathica began to walk away and we followed her through the canteen area.

"Have you ever been up there?" The Doctor asked Cathica.

"No. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to 500 except for the chosen few." Cathica told us.

* * *

We wandered into the Spike room followed by Cathica.

"Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance, can't you give it a rest?" Cathica asked us.

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" I asked her as the Doctor settled himself in the chair on the platform. I leaned over him, laying down slightly on his stomach and Rose leaned against the back of the chair.

"I went to floor 16 when I first arrived, that's medical, that's when I got my head done, and then I - I came straight here. Satellite Five - you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." She said eyeing us. "You're not management, are you?" she asked us, already knowing the answer.

"At last! She's clever!" the Doctor said smiling at me.

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything." Cathica told us.

"Don't you even ask?" Rose asked her, giving her a confused look. Humans have always been curious so why not now?

"Well, why WOULD I?" She asked checking things off her clipboard for maintenance.

"You're a journalist! Why's all the crew human?" I asked her bringing up Adam's point earlier.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica asked me.

"There's no aliens on board. Why?" I asked her.

"I don't know - no real reason, they're not banned or anything." she told me and the Doctor rolled his eyes at her.

"Then where are they?" I asked again.

"I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what, with all the threats." She told us.

"What threats?" The Doctor asked her.

"I don't know... all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Traffic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see... just... lots of little reasons, that's all." Cathica told us.

"Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice." The Doctor pointed out.

"Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything." She told him.

"I can see better. This society's the wrong shape. Even the technology." The Doctor said messing with the chair.

"It's cutting edge!" she said looking around the room.

"It's backward! There's a great big door in your head! You should've chucked this out years ago." The Doctor told her.

"So, what do you think is going on?" Rose asked him looking at both of us.

"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empire's stunted. Something's holding it back." The Doctor explained to us.

"And how would you know?" Cathica asked him.

"Trust me. Humanity's been set back about 90 years - when did Satellite Five start broadcasting?" The Doctor asked her.

"91 years ago..." The Doctor nodded at her and she looked away from us thoughtfully.

* * *

"We're SO gonna get in trouble." Cathica said as the Doctor scanned the side of a door with his sonic screwdriver with Rose and I behind him. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you're gonna get told off."

"Ashlee, tell her to button it." He told me and I rolled my eyes at him.

"You can't just vandalize the place, someone's gonna notice!" Cathica whispered to us. The Doctor wrenched the door open and continued to mess with the mainframe. "This is nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work." She told us walking away.

"Go on then! See ya!" The Doctor said not stopping in his task. Cathica stopped and came back to us and I rolled my eyes.

"I can't just leave you, can I!"

"If you wanna be useful, get 'em to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place, can't they do something about it?" I asked her.

"I don't know, we keep asking - something to do with the turbine." Cathica told me.

""Something to do with the turbine"." The Doctor mocked her.

"Well, I don't know!" Cathica said, I just might start calling that her catch phrase.

"Exactly! I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Ashlee and Rose - look at them." Rose and I turned to each other smiling. "They are asking the right kind of questions."

"Oh, thank you." Rose said turning back to him.

"Why is it so hot?" The Doctor asked Cathica.

"One minutes you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!" Cathica said looking around making sure no one was coming.

"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important." He said as he snapped some wires. He looked at me signaling that he hadn't meant to do that and went back to work. When the Doctor successfully manged to hack into the mainframe, he turned the screen to us.

"Here we go - Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout." He moved so Cathica examined the screen

"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange... and you're looking at pipes?" She said turning to look him bemused.

"But there's something wrong." He said looking at the screen. She turned back to it and took a good look.

"I suppose..."

"Why, what is it?" Rose asked as she and I looked at the screen trying to see what was wrong.

"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out... channeling massive amounts of heat DOWN." Cathica told us looking up.

"All the way from the top." The Doctor said.

"Floor 500." Rose said.

"Something up there is generating tonnes and tonnes of heat." I said looking back at the man at my side.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?" Rose asked us.

"You can't, you need a key." Cathica reminded us.

"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here." The Doctor said gestured to the screen, tapping a few keys. "Here we go - override 215.9."

"How come it's giving you the code?" Cathica asked him and he looked up at at security camera.

"Someone up there likes me."

* * *

We stood in front of the lift doors as they opened. Rose, the Doctor and I stepped into it waiting for Cathica.

"Come on, come with us!" I said beckoning her in.

"No way!" She told me.

"Bye!" The Doctor waved at her.

"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me!" Cathica told us stalking off.

"That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just the three of us." The Doctor said looking at the two of us.

"Yeah." I said.

"Good." he told us, smiling.

"Yep." Rose and I agreed. The Doctor slotted a card into the controls and grabbed my hand as the doors closed.

* * *

When the lift reached Floor 500 the Doctor stepped out with Rose and I behind him slightly.

"The walls are not made of gold. You two should go back downstairs." The Doctor told us looking around.

"Tough." I told him walking by him with Rose behind me. The Doctor joined us momentarily as we walked. In one area there was a man watching screens, people working in front of him.

"I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but YOU three... you don't exist!" he told us laughing as he turned to look at us. "Not a trace! No birth - no job - not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?" Rose rushed from my side quickly and I tried to go to her but the Doctor held me back.

"Suki! Suki!" Rose knelt next to Suki and shook her but Suki didn't respond. "Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?" She turned to the man in front of us. "What've you done to her?"

"I think she's dead." The Doctor told us and I turned to him quickly.

"She's working..." I told him looking back to her.

"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. Like puppets." He told me.

"Oh, God." I said looking at the men and women around us.

"Ohhhh! You're full of information! But it's only fair we get information back, because apparently, you're no-one." the man laughed again. "It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?" He asked us.

"It doesn't matter, 'cause we're off. Nice to meet you." He told him turning to me and Rose. "Come on." Two of the Worker Drones restrained him while another grabbed me. Rose jumped up to help but Suki's corpse grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Tell me who you are!" the man demanded of us.

"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?" The Doctor asked him.

"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise." the man said, smiling at us.

"And who's that?" I asked him.

"It may interest you to know that this is NOT the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live." The man told us and a roar sounded around the room. "Yeah- sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He snapped his fingers and pointed upwards and we followed with our eys to see a creature on the ceiling. It was a huge, slobbering lump of an alien with a mouth full of sharp, snapping teeth.

"What is that?" Rose asked nervously.

"You mean, that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" The Doctor asked the man in front of us.

"That 'thing' - as you put it - is in charge of the human race." My eyes widened as I looked at the man. "For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior - your master - and humanities guiding light - the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." The creature roared at his name. "I call him Max." he told us smiling. "Lock them up." The Drones holding us led us to a device that had just enough room for all of us, of course, and locked us in the manacles. "If we create a climate of fear... then it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy... invent an enemy... change a vote..." The man listed off.

"So, all the people on Earth are like, slaves?" I asked him and he turned to me.

"Well, now. There's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?" He asked me, smiling slightly.

"Yes." the Doctor and I answered.

"Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? 'Yes'?" the man asked us.

"Yes." The Doctor answered him and he laughed.

"You're no fun." the man told him.

"Let me out of these manacles - you'll find out how much fun I am." The Doctor threatened him.

"Oh, he's tough, isn't he?" the man asked looking at me. "But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit." the man told the Doctor.

"You can't hide something on this scale. Somebody must've noticed." Rose said to him.

"From time to time, someone, yes. But the computer system allows me to see inside their brain... I can see the smallest doubt - and crush it." he told her grinning. "And then they just carry on, living their life. Strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're SO individual. When of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing." He told us.

"What about you? You're not a Jagra... uh... a..." I couldn't pronounce the name.

"Jagrafess." The Doctor provided.

"Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human." I pointed out.

"Yeah, well simply being human doesn't pay very well." He told me.

"But you couldn't have done this all on your own." Rose said.

"No! I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to um... install himself." he told us.

"No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?" the Doctor asked looking up at him.

"Three thousand years." the man answered.

"That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs - Jagrafess stays cool - stays alive. Satellite Five's one great big life support system." I looked at the Doctor, wandering what he was getting at.

"But THAT'S why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." he said giving us a small laugh. He then clicked his fingers and the manacles sent an electric shock through us.

"Who are you?" the man asked us again as we grimaced in pain.

"Leave them alone. I'm the Doctor, they're Ashlee and Rose Tyler, we're nothing, we're just wandering." The Doctor tried convincing him.

"Tell me who you are!" The man demanded again.

"I just said!" The Doctor told him.

"Yeah, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly-" He stopped talking and smiled at us.

"Time Lord." I looked at him in shock.

"What?" The Doctor asked him. How did he know? We didn't say anything to give ourselves away did we?

"Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girls from long ago..." he rubbed my cheek gently and I turned my head away roughly trying to get as far away from him as I could.

"You don't know what you're talking about." The Doctor told him.

"Time travel." he told him.

"Someone's been telling you lies." The Doctor told him.

"Young master Adam Mitchell?" The man asked clicking his fingers. A projection of Adam writhing with pain and shouting popped up. We could see a door in his forehead and compressed information flowing into him.

"Oh, my God - his head!" Rose said, as we stared at him.

"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done?" The Doctor asked as we watched the projection.

"They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything!" I said.

"And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T-A-R-D-I-S - TARDIS." the man told us watching Adam.

"You'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first." The Doctor told him.

"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key." He told us. The TARDIS key levitated up from Adam's pocket. The Doctor looked to me and I looked to Rose.

"You and your boyfriends!" He told her looking back at the projection.

"I told you not to give him the key!" I reminded her.

"Today, WE are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing." the man told us, smiling.

"And no-one's gonna stop you. Because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold." The Doctor said. Soon an alarm went off.

"What's happening?" The man asked looking at the screens. "Someone's disengaged the safety." He clicked his fingers and the projection changed to show Cathica with compressed information flowing into her brain. "Who's that?!"

"It's Cathica!" Rose said smiling.

"And she's thinking. She's using what she knows!" The Doctor told us.

"Terminate her access." The man ordered.

"Everything she knows about about Satellite Five - the pipes - the filters - she's reversing it! Look at that..." I pointed out looking at the icicles as they began to melt. "Its getting hot."

"I said, terminate!" The man said frantically placing his own hands over Suki's. "Burn her mind." All the screens suddenly exploded with sparks and the Drones fell lifeless to the floor. Satellite Five shuddered and all the alarms went off. My manacles suddenly came undone and I went to the Doctor and tried to find his sonic screwdriver as the man holding us captive tried desperately to sit all the dead workers up.

"She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano." The Doctor told us laughing as the Jagrafess was roaring violently.

"Yes! Uh... I'm trying, sir but - I don't know how she did it, it's impossible. A member of staff with an idea-" The Jagrafess roared at him angrily. The man pushed Suki's body aside and tried to operate the computer himself as I looked for the screwdriver.

"What do I do?" I asked him once I found it.

"Flick the switch!" He told me. I did as he said and a small explosion went off nearby making me jump. I used the screwdriver to release his manacles then turned to Rose as the Doctor started talking to the man holding us captive.

"Oi, mate - wanna bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body. Massive bang!" he told the man as I freed Rose. "See you in the headlines!" he said as we ran for it. The three of us ran across Floor 500 the Doctor and I running hand in hand as we avoided huge lumps of snow falling from the ceiling. The entered the Spike room, the information still streaming into Cathica, the Doctor clicked his fingers and the door in Cathica's head closed. She looked up at the Doctor and I and we smiled down at her. We quickly ran to the lift and back down to the lower floors.

* * *

When we got downstairs everyone was recovering from the commotion in there own way. The Doctor, Cathica and I were sitting at a table in the canteen area while Rose leaned on the bar behind us.

"We're just gonna go. We hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage." I told her

"You'll have to stay and explain it - no-one's gonna believe me." Cathica told us.

"Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The Human Race should accelerate. All back to normal." The Doctor told her smiling.

"What about your friend?" Cathica asked us looking in another direction. We followed her gaze to Adam who was loitering by the TARDIS.

"He's not our friend." The Doctor told her. He then stood up and marched to him menacingly. Rose and I followed him close, just to make sure he didn't do anything real cruel to him.

"Now, don't-" Rose started trying to help Adam, but it wouldn't help.

"Don't bother Rose." I told her as the Doctor ignored her as we advanced on Adam.

"I'm all right now. Much better. I've got the key." Adam said showing us the key. "Well, it's... I know..." He laughed nervously while looking at us. "It all worked out for the best, didn't it?" The Doctor took the key off him, grabbed Adam's shoulder, and unlocked the door of the TARDIS. "You know, it's not actually my fault, because YOU were in charge-" Adam said as the Doctor shoved him inside.

"I'd shut up if I were you Adam, it's not going to help you in the long run." I told him walking behind the Doctor up to the console. The Doctor sat Adam down on the seat close by and started piloting his ship. When he passed by me he gave me a hard look and the key back. I wasn't to give this key to anyone else, I understood that and I would remember this moment.

"Ashlee, I'm sorry." Rose said trying to make up for giving Adam the key.

"I trusted you, Rose. I trusted you with the key to the Doctor's home, my home." I told her not looking at her. I knew it would be strange to have her in here now for a while. When the Doctor landed where he was going he grabbed Adam's shoulder again and steered him out of the TARDIS with us following with Rose closing the door behind us.

"It's my house! I'm home! Oh, my God, I'm home!" Adam said laughing while the Doctor glared at him. "Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."

"That option is still open for debate." I told him and the Doctor held my hand to calm me down. He'd betrayed all of us by pulling his little act.

"Is there something else you want to tell me?" The Doctor asked him.

"No. Um... what do you mean?" Adam asked him. The Doctor let go of my hand and walked over to the telephone and picked it up.

"The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world." Adam watched as the Doctor put the phone down and took out his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor pointed it at the phone and blew it up getting rid of anything that could damage history. "That's it, then. See ya." The Doctor said walking back to the TARDIS.

"How do you mean, 'see ya'?" Adam asked him.

"As in 'goodbye'." The DOCTOR explained for him, making sure he knew we were leaving.

"But... what about me? You can't just go, I've got my head - I've got a chip type two, my head opens." Adam told us./

"What, like this?" The Doctor clicked his fingers, opening Adam's head.

"Don't." Adam said angrily clicking his fingers and closing his head.

"Don't do what?" The Doctor asked clicking his fingers again.

"Stop it!" Adam demanded closing his head once more.

"All right now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it." I told him and he backed down.

"Thank you." Adam said to me. I glared at him and he backed down slightly.

"You used my sister's trust in you against her. If I were you, I wouldn't talk to me at all." I told him as Rose clicked her fingers.

"Oi!" Adam said looking at the younger woman.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Rose told him snickering. Adam closed his head again and tried giving her a look before glancing at the rest of us.

"The whole of history could've changed because of you." The Doctor told him.

"I just wanted to help." Adam said, trying to pull one over on us.

"You were helping yourself." The Doctor told him and he looked slightly guilty about it.

"And - I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry, and I am, I really am - but you can't just leave me like this." Adam said, trying to force the Doctor to take him with us but that''s not how my Time Lord worked.

"Yes I can. 'Cos if you show your head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average. Unseen. Good luck." The Doctor said opening the TARDIS door.

"But I wanna come with you!" Adam tried once more to beg.

"I only take the best. I've got Ashlee and Rose." He told Adam walking into the TARDIS with me right behind him. "Are you alright?" he asked me.

"He used Rose and I trusted her not to hand the TARDIS key over, but she did. How can I trust her after that?" I asked him.

"She's your sister. You'll trust her again." He told me making me smile at him. I leaned against the console as he stood in front of me smiling. "I heard you tell her this is your home, what about your flat with your mum?" he asked me moving closer to me.

"I never really fit in at home or anywhere until I met you. So I consider this my home, I mean if you don't mind or anything." I told him looking at my feet. I saw his feet walk in front of mine and looked up to him.

"How could I mind?" He asked me smiling. I smiled at him and hugged him tightly which was returned quickly. Rose then boarded the TARDIS without a backward glance at Adam. The Doctor and I released each other and I walked over to her while The Doctor started the engines.

"You going to be okay?" I asked while I hugged her close.

"I thought I could really trust him with something important. I'll be fine, where to next?" She asked as she and I made our way to the console and the Doctor.

"How about we just sit in the vortex for a while?" He asked us as he danced around the console.


	8. Father's Day

Peter Alan Tyler - my dad. One of the most wonderful men in the world. Born 15th of September 1954.

* * *

FLASHBACK

* * *

"Come here, Rose, Ashlee. Come here..." she pat the bed beside her and we climbed onto her bed and looked at the photo in her hand. "Who's that? It's your Daddy. You weren't old enough to remember when he died. 1987. 7th of November. Do you remember what I told you? The day that Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke got married?" she asked us turning the page in her album to one of both of them together. "He was always having adventures. Oh, he would have loved to have seen you two now."

* * *

After visiting Mum and sitting in the vortex for a while talking, laughing and spending time together Rose came to us one day with a request.

"That's what mum always says. So, I was thinking... could we? Could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?" Rose asked him.

"Where's this come from, all of a sudden?" I asked her sitting next to the Doctor on one of the chairs as Rose stood across from us leaning on the console.

**"**All right then, if we can't, if it goes against the laws of times or something, then never mind, we'll just leave it." Rose said looking down.

**"**No, I can do anything. I'm just more worried about you two." he said looking at the two of us.

**"**I wanna see him." she told him. The Doctor looked at me and I simply looked to my lap.

**"**Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for." he told us standing up and starting the TARDIS engines up.

* * *

The Doctor, Rose and I were sitting at the back of a small crowd of people in a registrar office witnessing the marriage of Mum and Dad.

"I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline, Angela, Suzette Prentiss..." the Registrar said so Dad could repeat it.

**"**I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne... Suzette... Anita..." Mum narrowed her eyes at him and Dad looked to the Registrar for help.

"Oh, just carry on. It's good enough for Lady Di." The Doctor grinned at Rose and I at Mum's words and I smiled back at him.

"I thought he'd be taller." Rose told us.

**"**... to be my lawful wedded wife, to love and behold 'til death us do part."

* * *

FLASHBACK

* * *

"He died so close to home. I wasn't there. Nobody was. It was a hit and run driver. Never found out who. He was dead when the ambulance got there." I looked at her as she continued to talk about Dad. "I only wish there'd been SOMEONE there for him." I looked at Rose then down to the picture.

* * *

"I wanna be that someone. So he doesn't die alone." Rose told the Doctor and I in the TARDIS.

**"**November the 7th?" The Doctor asked us.

**"**1987." I told him. He started the engines as Rose and I watched him. When we stopped she grabbed my hand and we walked out of the TARDIS. The day was still and quiet and someone was playing music close by.

**"**That's so weird. The day my father died... I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy, it's just an ordinary day." Rose said looking around.

**"**The past is another country. 1987's just the Isle of Wight." The Doctor told her looking down at us. "Are you sure about this?"

**"**Yeah." she said walking towards the estate.

"You're going to have to hold me back when he dies, Doctor. I'll try to save him and I don't know what that could do to my future and I don't want to change a bit of it." I told him. He looked down at me with sadness and understanding in his eyes.

"Okay."

* * *

We all stood on the curb of the pavement in front of the Powell Estate, side by side. The Doctor had his arm around me to stop me from running when the time came.

"This is it. Jordan Road. He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present - a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase." Rose said sounding like she was about to cry as a car rounded the corner.

"He got out of his car..." I said as the car pulled over. "... and crossed the road." the car then stopped. "Oh, God. This is it." Dad, oblivious to what was going to happen to him, picked up the vase from the passenger's seat. Dad got out of his car, unaware that a car had just rounded the corner and is headed straight towards him. The driver threw a hand over his eyes and the Doctor tightened his grip on me as Rose hid her eyes. I watched as the driver hit my dad and watched the vase fall to the floor and smashed. Rose lifted her head to look at our father, who was lying on the road, twitching."

**"**Go to him. Quick." The Doctor told her but the two of us couldn't move. Rose ran off and we followed her around another corner. We found her leaning against the wall and leaned with her until she was ready. I hugged her close to me as she cried and we heard the ambulance sirens sound.

"It's too late now." Rose said hugging me and the Doctor looked at us. "By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead." she said, her voice faltering choking on tears. the Doctor looked away from us and Rose turned to him. "He can't die on his own. Can I try again?" The Doctor looked at us, knowing it would be a bad idea. But I knew he'd do it.

* * *

The three of us stood just out of sight around the corner, watching the first set of ourselves standing on the curb.

**"**Right. That's the first trio of us. It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don't see us. Wait 'til she runs off and they follow, then go to your dad." the Doctor told us. We watched as Dad's car drove up again.

For the second time, Rose's father's car draws up.

**"**Oh, God. This is it." I heard myself say as we watched as Dad picked up the vase from the passenger seat again.

"I can't do this." Our Rose said.

**"**You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but this is the last time we can be here." The Doctor told us. Rose and I stared at Dad as he got out of the car. Rose then ran from our hiding place towards Dad.

"Rose! No!" The Doctor and I called after her as the car that was to kill my father rounded the corner. Rose ran past the first set of us and knocked our father out of the way of the oncoming car and they tumbled onto the floor. The first set of us looked at each other bewildered for a few seconds, then disappeared. The Doctor looked at me in horror then we looked back at Rose and Dad as they got to their feet.

"I did it! I saved your life!" I heard her say.

**"**Blimey, did you see the speed of it? Did you get his number?" Dad asked her.

"I really did it. Oh, my God, look at you! You're alive! That car was gonna kill ya!" She told him.

**"**Well, give me some credit, I did see it coming. I wasn't gonna walk under it, was I?" Dad asked her.

**"**I'm Rose." She blurted to him, looking at him expectantly.

"That's a coincidence. That's my daughter's name." I looked at him a little shocked. Shouldn't he have said youngest daughter?

"That's a great name. Good choice, well done." Rose told him smiling, not paying attention to his wording. There was a few seconds of silence as Rose smiled at him, unable to take her eyes off him. He looked as though he was stumped on words.

"Right, I'd better shift. I've got a wedding to go to." He told her.

**"**Is that Sarah Clarke's wedding?" She asked him.

**"**Yeah, are you going?" He asked her.

**"**Yeah."

**"**You and your friends need a lift?" He asked gestures to us. I looked at the Doctor was was watching them darkly.

* * *

We followed Dad into the flat Mum still lived in so he could get ready to go to the wedding.

**"**There we go. Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchen's just down there, milk's in the fridge... well, it would be, wouldn't it? Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there's always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt... make a lot of money out of that." Dad told us. Rose couldn't tear her eyes away from him as she smiled at him in delight. The Doctor nodded to him behind her. "Sell it to students and things..." he said pondering that thought for a moment. "I should write that down. Anyway, never mind that, excuse me..." he pushed past us and disappeared through a door that lead into Mum's bedroom in our time. I moved further into the house and looked around the place with Rose.

"All the stuff mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard, she used to show us when she'd had a bit to drink." Rose told him as the Doctor leaned against the door frame, saying nothing to us. "Here it is. On display. Where it SHOULD be." The Doctor watched her angrily as she picked up a trophy and showed it to him smiling. "Third prize at the bowling... first two got to go to Didcot." she handed it to me and I examined it for a few more seconds before putting it back onto the table. Rose turned to a corner of the living room and walked to it and bending down to look at it. "Health drinks. Tonics, mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He's so clever." she said looking around the room. I looked around some more and saw some plans on a table.

"Solar power. Mum said he was gonna do this. I guess he can now." I said looking at the Doctor. Rose looked at him smiling while his face still shows anger.

"When we met, you wanted nothing to do with me and when Ashlee came back after traveling with me and told you about our travels you jumped aboard." The Doctor said looking at her with suspicion.

**"**It wasn't some big plan. I just saw it happening and I thought... I can stop it." She confessed to us.

**"**I did it again. I picked another STUPID ape." I looked at him in shock from his words. Was that all we were to him? "I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe - it never is. It's about the universe doing something for you." I looked down at the ground finding the most interesting thing in the world.

**"**So it's okay when YOU go to other times, and YOU save people's lives - but not when it's me saving my dad." Rose asked him.

**"**I know what I'm doing, you don't. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point." the Doctor explained to her.

**"**But he's alive!" she told him.

**"**My entire planet died. My whole family. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?" The Doctor asked her trying to make a point.

**"**But it's not like I've changed HISTORY. Not much, I mean... he's never gonna be a world leader, he's not gonna start World War Three or anything." she said trying to convince him she did the right thing.

"Rose - there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. An ordinary man, that's the most important thing in creation. The whole world's different because he's alive. The future is different, we could be different, because of this." I told her.

**"**What, would you rather him dead?" She asked me.

"I'm not SAYING that-" I told her.

**"**No, I get it! For once, YOU'RE not the most important person in my life so now you want him gone." she told me and I stared at her in shock. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately, but that was the worst thing she'd ever said to me.

**"**Let's see how you get on without us, then." The Doctor told her, glaring at her. "Maybe you should remember why you saved him." he told her grabbing my hand. "You've got what you wanted so that's goodbye then." he turned on her pulling me with him down the hallway to the door with Rose behind us.

"You don't scare me." She told us standing in front of us and the door. "I know how sad you are. You'll be back in a minute. Or you'll hang around outside the TARDIS waiting for me." She said looking at me and I looked away from her. The Doctor pushed past her and opened the door not releasing my hand for a moment growing angrier by her words. "And I'll make you wait a long time!" she yelled and shut the door behind us and I followed the Doctor's storm.

"We will have to go back for her." I told him quietly as we rounded a corner to the road where the TARDIS was parked.

"With what she said to you?" he asked me looking back at me still angry.

"The world might be different with my Dad alive but with Rose here it could be worse. Plus Mum will kill ya." I told him.

"That's all I need. Another slap from your mother." he told me lightening it up a bit. A bird cawed as we approached the TARDIS. The Doctor took out his key and then looked up as though he heard something.

"Doctor? What is it?" I asked looking in the same direction he had but saw nothing. He opened the doors only for us to see the inside of the ship has disappeared. It was just an ordinary police-box. My mouth fell open as he stepped inside and felt the walls frantically then stopping.

"Rose!" he said looking at me. We quickly ran back in the direction that we had came in.

* * *

"Rose!" I called to her as we reached the church she was at. She turned to us with a satisfied smile in place.

"Get in the church!" The Doctor shouted at her. Her smile faded at his urgency. He looked to her left and I followed his gaze to see a bat like creature appeared, bearing down on her as she screamed. I knocked her out of the way just in time for that thing to fly over us as we fell to the ground. We quickly scrambled to our feet with the Doctor's help. "Get in the church!" The Doctor called to a crowd just outside the gate. The crowd tried to run for the door but they stopped when another creature appeared in front of them.

"Oh, my God. What are they?" One of the women asked as the guests in the church came out to see what was happening. They all screamed.

"Inside!" The Doctor called to them as the creature bore down on them. The people who just came out of the church tried to run out to the road. "Stay in there!" A man didn't listened and tried to run for it and the creature swooped down on him, covering his body with his wings. The bride tried to run into the church but another creature positioned itself before her and she screamed. The creature changed from attacking her to attack the priest instead. The Doctor ushered us all in to the church. "In!" the creature charged toward the doors as we ran in but the Doctor managed to shut them just in time and the creature screamed. Once inside, everyone began babble in panic. The Doctor looked around at the shadows of the creatures outside the windows. "They can't get in. Old windows and doors, okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else?" he asked as the creature screeched. "Go and check the other doors! Move!" He ordered and the guest quickly ran to check on the other doors. The Doctor pushed on some wooden doors with Mum and I following him.

**"**What's happening? What are they?" She asked grabbing his arm. **"**What ARE they?"

**"**There's been an accident in time, a wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage."The Doctor said not really talking to me while answering her question.

**"**What do you mean, time? What're you jabbering on about, time?" Mum asked him before I could get a word in.

"Oh, I might've known you'd argue. Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining." The Doctor told her thinking of her arguing with him since I'd met him.

"How d'you know my name?" She asked him.

"I haven't got time for this-" he said talking over her.

"I've never met you in my life!" she said talking over him both of them getting louder.

**"**No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don't mind - I've waited a long time to say this - Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go - and - check - the - doors." he said pointing in the direction of the door, his voice loud and commanding.

**"**Yes, sir." she left immediately and the Doctor grinned at me, pleased with himself as a man approached us.

"I should've done that ages ago." he told me.

"She would have slapped you senseless." I told him, matching his grin.

**"**My dad was out there." the man told us.

**"**You can mourn him later, right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive." I told him following the Doctor to check all doors and windows.

**"**My dad had-" The man started again holding up an old mobile, the large chunky kind.

**"**There's NOTHING we can do for him." The Doctor told him trying to make him understand.

**"**No. But he had this phone thing. I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice..." he told us. I took the phone from him and dialed a number then held the phone up so the Doctor and I could listen.

"Watson - come here - we need you. Watson - come here - we need you." I looked at the Doctor as he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"That's the very first phone-call, Alexander Graham Bell." He told me as I gave the phone back. "I don't think the telephone's gonna be much use." he said turning to go check another door.

"But someone must call the police!" The man said calling after us.

**"**Police can't help you now. No-one can." everyone in the church watched him intently, then again he was the only one who knew what was happening. "Nothing in this Universe can harm those things. Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound. By consuming everything in sight." he told us and I followed his gaze to Rose.

"Is this because... Is this my fault?" Rose asked him but he gave no reply. We all knew the answer, yes. He walked past her and I followed him before separating.

I continued to check the doors and windows when I noticed a child sitting by herself in the front row holding on to something tightly in her small hands.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her. She just looked at me, not saying anything. "It's okay, you can talk to me. The Doctor's going to get us all out of here, you'll see." I told her smiling.

**"**How do you know?" she asked me.

"Cause I travel with him. He does this all the time. Well, not exactly this but something like it. Sort of." I told her thinking of our adventures.

"Who are you?" She asked me finally. I looked into her familiar light gray eyes framed by long curly black hair.

"My name's Ashlee. See that blonde over there." She turned to see Rose and Dad talking. "That's my sister, Rose. Then their's, of course, the Doctor." I said looking at him talking to the man from earlier and the bride.

"What about your mum and dad?" she asked me. I looked back at her and thought of an answer. I couldn't exactly say that my parents are in the church but they don't know it.

"Mu mum is at home and my dad died a long time ago." I told her. "So I've told you my name, what's yours?" I asked her.

"I don't have one." she told me.

"How do you not have one?" I asked her. "Everyone has a name."

"But not everyone remembers it. I don't remember anything past this morning. I woke up on the sidewalk in clothes that were too big and a watch then walked here." she told me.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. Maybe your mum and dad are in another church, yea? And they can't wait to find you. I told her smiling.

"That would be nice." she told me, finally smiling.

"Now that's better. Always look on the positive side of things. The creature's can't get in and the Doctor will come up with a plan. Then we will get out of here and your parents will find you and you'll live a long happy life. Filled with love, happiness, everything." I told her smiling even more. She grinned at me and her hand loosened up to show her watch. It was silver with designs I'd only seen once before. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my watch and compared it with hers. It matched. I looked at her in shock with the realization... she was me.

* * *

"So where are you? I can't wait to see what you looked like when you were little." The Doctor told me smiling lightly. I would have bet anything that he was trying to think of a way out of here.

"I'm sitting in front pew. She has no memory though, Doctor. She doesn't know who her parents are and Mum and Dad aren't rushing to 's just sitting there holding onto that stupid watch." I told them looking at the little girl.

"What watch?" he asked me giving me a strange look. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my watch and showed it to him.

"This one. I've had it for as long as I can remember, obviously. I always thought it'd been passed to me from Dad or Grandad. But I was wrong cause she has one also." I said looking back at her. I felt the Doctor take my watch and I watched him inspect it, turning it over and over in his hands. "What is it?"

"This is a Time Lord's Watch." he said looking at me weirdly.

"But you said if their were Time Lords left you'd know." I reminded him of his words at Van Statten's museum.

"Not if they used this. The Time Lords hid from their enemy's by putting their essence into a pocket watch and becoming human or any other species that they could pass off as." he told me.

"So how did I get one?" I asked looking back at mt younger self.

"These don't just fall into human hands, not easily and not without reason. The only one who knows how you got that is to ask the Time Lord who gave it to her." he told me, but he and I both knew that their were no Time Lords here or anywhere else on the Earth.

"So what does that make me?" I asked him. He looked at me with so many emotions in his eyes: hope, fear, confusion and love were the main ones.

"I promise, I'll find out for you." he told me wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"We'll find out together." I told him leaning on his chest and staring at the little black haired girl who was staring at us with familiar light gray eyes.

* * *

The creatures slammed themselves against the walls and windows as I sat next to the Doctor as he played with baby Rose.

"Now, Rose... you're not gonna bring about the end of the world, are you?" The Doctor asked the baby as Rose walked up to us. "Are you?" the baby stared at him innocently. The Doctor glanced up to see Rose as she watched him. "Jackie gave her to me to look after. How times change." he said playing with the baby.

**"**I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." she told us laughing lightly, trying to lighten the mood a bit. She reached out for the baby but the Doctor quickly grabbed her hand and pushed it back.

"No. Don't touch the baby." he said as the creatures outside screeched loudly again. "You're both the same person and that's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening. Not with these things outside. Anything new - any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in." he explained to her.

**"**Can't do anything right, can I?" she asked him.

**"**Since you ask, no. So, don't - touch - the - baby." he told her sternly.

"Doctor." I put my hand on his arm and he glanced at me, his eyes softening.

"I'm - not - stupid." Rose told him slowly, glaring.

**"**You could've fooled me." he told her. Rose looked at me as though begging for help. I hugged the Doctor from behind him tightly trying to calm him slightly.

"This isn't all her fault you know. Either you or I should have held her back for her own good knowing something like this would happen." I reminded him.

"You're right. I'm sorry." he told us. Rose looked back at him in confusion.

"We weren't really gonna leave you on your own." I told her.

**"**I know." Rose told me.

**"**But between the three of us, I haven't got a plan. No idea." the Doctor told us honestly. "No way out."

**"**You'll think of something." I told him quietly so only the three of us could hear.

**"**The entire Earth is being sterilized. This, and other place like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. "They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them. There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening - my people would have stopped this. But they're all gone. And now I'm going the same way."

**"**If I'd realized..." Rose started saying but never finished. She knew we didn't blame her for what was happening.

"Just... tell us you're sorry." he told her and I smiled. Soon things would be back to normal.

"I am. I'm sorry." Rose said, holding our gaze. I reached out and held her hand. I then stood and hugged her tightly which she returned. After a few moments, Rose pulled away feeling inside my pockets for a moment. "Have you got something hot?" There was a sizzling sound as she pulled out my TARDIS key from my pocket. She gasped and dropped it quickly from the heat. The Doctor stood beside me and we all stared at the key glowing brightly on the floor.

"It's the TARDIS key!" I said as the Doctor took off his jacket and used it to pick up the key.

"It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS!" He told us excitedly.

* * *

"The inside of my ship was thrown out of a wound but we can use THIS to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?" The Doctor asked the crowd of people. Everyone was silent for a moment until the groom held up a phone.

"This one big enough?" he asked him. The Doctor hurried to him and inspected it.

"Fantastic." he said grinning.

**"**Good old dad." Stuart gave the phone to the Doctor. "There you go."

"Just need to do a bit of charging up..." he said as he pressed his sonic screwdriver to the battery, "And then we can bring everyone back." He glanced around the church as the battery charged up, grinning.

"You, um... you never said why you came here in the first place. If I had a time machine, I wouldn't have thought 1987 was anything special. Not round here, anyway." Dad said to us as we sat in the back of the church. Rose had already told the Doctor and I about Dad finding out about us being from the future.

**"**We just ended up here." I told him.

**"**Lucky for me, eh? If you hadn't been there to save me..." Dad said dropping off.

"That was just a co-incidence. That was just... REALLY good luck. It's amazing..." Rose told him quickly. Dad looked at us as though he didn't believe her and their was a slight pause on the conversation.

"So, in the future, are me and her indoors still together?" Dad asked us. We didn't know that for sure anymore so I didn't know what to tell him.

"Yeah." Rose told him.

**"**Are you still living with us?" he asked her not looking at me.

**"**Yep! We both are." Rose told him nodding her head at me. Dad nodded and smiled at her intensely for a few moments.

"Am I a good dad?" he asked us and I couldn't find it in my heart to tell him the truth.

"You... you told us a bedtime story every night when I was small. You were always there... you never missed one." she said smiling at him. "And um... you took us for picnics in the country every Saturday. You never let us down. You were there for us all the time. Someone we could really rely on." we were all silent for a few moments.

"That's not me." he told us and Rose stopped smiling. We both looked to the front of the church as the TARDIS started to materialize with the key in her lock. The Doctor put his jacket back on and grinned as he ran back up the steps to the pulpit to address the guests.

"Right, no-one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be - well - ZAP. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart - Sarah - you're gonna get married, just like I said." he told us grinning.

* * *

The TARDIS was materializing slowly but surely in the front of the church as we all sat in the back. Everyone was sitting waiting for it to appear fully. The Doctor, Rose and I sat side by side as dad sat on a seat behind us.

"When time gets sorted out..." Rose started asking the Doctor but she didn't dare ask with dad behind us.

**"**Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry - the thing that you changed will stay changed." The Doctor told her.

**"**You mean I'll still be alive?" Dad asked him. Rose and I turned to him. "Though I'm meant to be 's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I didn't MEAN anything." Dad continued saying to us.

**"**It doesn't work like that." The Doctor told him.

**"**Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened." Dad said looking at the windows as the creatures circled us. Rose reached over the back of the pew and put her hand on his arm.

"This is MY fault." she told him sternly.

**"**No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault." Dad told her.

"Her dad? How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve?" We looked up in shock to see Mum standing over us with baby Rose in her arms. The Doctor walked away from us a little, just far enough to keep an ear out for Rose and I. "Oh, that's DISGUSTING."

"Jacks - listen. This is Rose." Dad said trying to make her understand this was her daughter.

**"**Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second hand name? How many are there? Do you call them ALL Rose?" Mum asked him quietly so no one else could hear her.

**"**Oh, for God's sake, look! It's the SAME Rose!" Dad told her as he took the baby from Mum's arms and placed her into Rose's.

"Rose! No!" I quickly grabbed the baby Rose from my Rose's arms but it was too late. A creature appeared in the middle of the church and everyone screamed and leaped to their feet.

"Everyone! Behind me!" The Doctor called out pushing Rose and I behind him. The creature chirped at us then spread its wings, screaming. "I'm the oldest thing in here." The Doctor said walking forward and the creature attacked him.

"DOCTOR!" I watched, horrified, as the creature consumed the Doctor in front of us. The only thing holding me back from going to him was the baby in my arms and Rose holding me back. Everyone else screamed and ran away from the group we'd made behind the Doctor. The creature swooped around the church and then collided with the TARDIS and they both disappeared. The key fell to the floor, no longer glowing. There was silence in the church for a few seconds before I ran down the isle and picked up the key. "Cold. It's cold." I told them. "Oh, my God, he's dead." I felt arms wrap around my waist and I turned and cried in the persons arms.

"It's all my fault... all of you... both of you... the whole world..." Rose said as I cried on her shoulder.

"This is it. There's nothing we can do. It's the end." one of the people said I cried for the man I'd just lost.

* * *

I was laying on Rose's lap in the dark church as she stroked my hair. The younger me had come closer to us and sat next to Rose but she never touched me. Dad then walked to us, carrying his jacket.

**"**The Doctor really cared about you..." I rolled my head in Rose's lap so I could look at him. "He didn't want you to go through it again if there was another way. Now there isn't."

"What're you talking about?" I asked him standing up with Rose.

**"**The car that should've killed me, love. It's here. The Doctor worked it out way back, but he, er - he tried to protect me." Dad told us. I felt my eyes fill with tears and what he was saying. "Still - he's not in charge anymore. I am."

"But you can't..." Rose told him, her voice shaking. Dad reached out to her and stroked her face.

"Who am I, love?" Dad asked her.

**"**Our Daddy." she said crying. He looked at me and hugged us both to him. Mum approached us with wide eyes.

"Jackie... look at her. They're ours." he told her motioning to both of us. Mum looked at us then to the little girl next to us. I could see the truth dawning on her as Rose and I looked at her tearfully.

"Oh, God..." Mum threw her arms around us and we held her tightly to us. When she let us go she looked at Dad.

"I'm meant to be dead, Jackie. You're gonna get rid of me at last." Dad joked with her.

"Don't say that." Mum told him holding back her tears.

**"**For once in your life, trust me. It's got be done. You've got to survive, because you've got to bring up our daughters." he said gesturing to us. He pulled her in for one last kiss before turning to us. "I never read you those bedtime stories. I never took you on those picnics. I was never there for you."

"You would've been." I told him.

**"**But I can do this for you. I can be a proper dad to you now." Dad said ignoring me.

**"**But it's not fair." Rose told him, crying.

**"**I've had all these extra hours. No-one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that... I get to see the two of you." he said taking our faces in his hands. "And you're beautiful." he said smiling at both of us. "How lucky am I, eh? So, come on... do as your dad says." Without looking at him Rose handed him the vase he was to die with and he took it from her. "Are you going to be there for me, love?" he asked and we nodded to him. "Thanks for saving me." He pulled up into a tight embrace then ran out the door. He stopped just outside the gate and looked up at one of the creatures as it began to bear down on him. He turned to see the car appear from thin air around the corner and runs straight out in front of it, screwing up his eyes before the impact. "Goodbye." The driver threw a hand over his eyes as the car knocked him over, throwing the vase to the ground, breaking it. The creatures disappeared one by one. Rose and I stood outside the church doors, holding hands and taking deep breathes in the slight breeze. Someone came up behind me, and grabbed me hand. I looked up to see the Doctor and we stared at each other for a few moments.

**"**Go to him. Quick." he told us and we ran our of the gates and down the road and sat beside dad as he died. We held his hands and Rose lifted his head off the ground. Finally his eyes closed and his head fell back and Rose lowered his head gently to the ground.

* * *

FLASHBACK

* * *

"The driver was just a kid." Mum told us as we sat on her bed. "He stopped. He waited for the police. It wasn't his fault. For some reason, Pete just ran out. People say there were these girls... and they sat with Pete while he was dying. And they held his hand. Then they were gone. Never found out who they were."

* * *

I stood as Rose kissed dad's forehead and joined the Doctor. We waited for Rose to join us then we left not talking about what happened or ever bringing it up again.

* * *

Peter Alan Tyler, my Dad. The most wonderful man in the world. Died the 7th of November, 1987.


	9. The Empty Child

**"**What's the emergency?" I asked him.

**"**It's mauve." he told me as we rushed around the console as the TARDIS shuddered and shook.

"Mauve?" I asked him.

**"**The universally recognized color for danger." he explained.

**"**What happened to red?" I asked him.

**"**That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing." he told me as he gestures to the object we were following through the Time Vortex on the monitor. "It's got a very basic flight computer - I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

**"**And how safe is it?" I asked him.

"Totally." he said as part of the console exploded. "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. Oh, no, no, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks - getting away from us." he told me.

**"**What exactly is this thing?" I asked him as I looked at something through the monitor.

**"**No idea." he told me grinning.

**"**And why are we chasing it?" I asked him.

**"**It's mauve and dangerous. And about 30 seconds from the center of London." he explained to me as he parked the TARDIS. When I walked out of the TARDIS we were in a London alleyway with some posters on the walls.

"Do you know how long we can knock around space without having to bump into Earth?" The Doctor asked me.

**"**Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" I asked him smiling.

**"**Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow." he said to himself.

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for some sort of normal." I said smiling.

"Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month." he told me.

**"**A month?! We were right behind it!" I reminded him.

**"**It was jumping time tracks all over the place, we're bound to be a little bit out. Do YOU wanna drive?" he asked me.

"Yeah... how much is 'a little'?" I asked him, ignoring his sarcastic question.

**"**A bit." he told me.

"Is that EXACTLY a bit?" I asked him.

**"**Ish." I rolled my eyes at him.

**"**What's the plan, then? Are you gonna do a scan for alien tech or something?" I asked him looking around.

**"**Ashlee, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm gonna ask." he told me showing me his psychic paper.

"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Astroids." I read off the paper.

**"**Psychic Paper, tells you-" he started telling me what he'd told me before but I interrupted him.

**"**Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember." I told him.

"Sorry." he put the paper away and I looked around.

**"**Not very scifi, is it? Just asking?" I asked as I watched him try get through a door.

**"**Door - music - people. What d'you think?" he asked me.

**"**I think you should do a scan for alien tech." I told him as he held his sonic screwdriver to the door. "Gimme some scifi! For once, would it kill ya?" I asked him but he just ignored me.

**"**Are you sure about that t-shirt?" he asked me. I looked down at my shirt that Rose had given me. It had a Union Jack on it.

"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin." I told him as he continued trying to open the lock with his sonic screwdriver.

**"**Muuuu-mmy?" I turned quickly to find the source of the voice I'd just heard. "Muuuu-mmy?" I heard the Doctor crack the lock behind me as I continued my search.

"Come on if you're coming. Won't take a minute." I walked away from him towards the voice. It had sounded like a child.

"Muuuuumy?" I looked up and saw a child standing on a roof-top.

**"**Doctor? Doctor? There's a kid up there!" I called and looked behind me but didn't see him and I rushed to find a way onto the roof top. I ran up to the building and looked up at him. "Are you all right up there?" I asked.

**"**Muuuuum-my?" he called out and I ran up the steps that go up the side of the building. As I finished climbing the steps, I noticed they didn't to all the way to the roof top. I looked up to see the child standing on the edge of the roof. "Mummy?" the child called looking at me.

**"**Okay - hold on! Don't move!" I called up to him. Suddenly, a rope swung down next to me. I looked up along the rope to see it going to the rooftop. I took it and started climbing the rope to try and reach the child.

**"**Mummy..." I heaved my body up the rope wishing I'd done better in gym when they had us to this though. "Balloon!" I saw the rope come away from the side of the building with me still holding onto it. I looked up to see a barrage balloon which was what the rope was connected to. The rope I was still clinging to. The barrage balloon drifted as I clung to the rope for dear life.

"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" I called out but I knew he wouldn't hear me. I turned and watched the planes dropping bombs on London. "At least I know where and when I am. Too bad my sister is trying to kill me with her shirt choices." I said to myself as the planes zoomed all around me. I saw an explosion below me and my grip loosened on the rope. I tried holding on even more but my hands were sweating so bad that I lost my grip and fell screaming. Suddenly, a blue beam shot out from somewhere near Big Ben and a voice emitted from the source.

"Okay, okay, I've got you." the voice told me. I recognize a guy talking but who could have this tech during World War II?

"Who's got me? Who's got me, and you know... how?" I asked the voice scared.

"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field." he told me.

"Descent pattern?" I asked the voice.

"Oh, and could you switch off your cellphone?" he asked me and I gave him multiple disbelieving noises. "No, seriously - it interferes with my instrument." he told me and I rolled my eyes.

"You know, no-one ever believes that." I told him as I shut off my mobile. "No one likes talking to strange voices either."

"Thank you. That's much better." he said.

"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey! My mobile phone's off!" I said hysterically and the man laughed.

"Be with you in a moment." he said and I waited in midair for a moment. "Ready for you. Hold tight!"

"To what?!" I asked him.

"Fair point." he said and seconds later I was zooming feet first down the tunnel of blue light, screaming. The next moment, I fell and was caught by a man with brown hair and kind brown eyes. "I've got you!" he told me as I coughed. "You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little." he told me. I stared at him as my coughing fit was over.

"Hello." I said breathless.

"Hello." he said looking me up and down.

"Hello." I said again and he raised his and nodded at me. "Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but you know, thorough."

"Are you all right?" he asked me.

"Fine!" I told him as he set me back on my feet and I grinned at him. "Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?" I asked him.

"Well, you do look a little dizzy..." he told me.

"What about you? You're not even focused... oh boll-" My world went dark.

* * *

When I woke up I got up and tried to look around but it was too dark too see.

"Better now?" the man asked me.

"You got lights in here?" I asked him. The man turned them on for me so I could get a better look around.

"Hello." he said.

"Hello." I greeted.

"Hello." he said smiling at me.

"Let's not start that again." I told him smiling and he laughed.

"Okay." I felt a slight breeze on my stomach and pulled my shirt down self-consciously before walking to him.

"So, um... who're you supposed to be, then?" I asked him.

"Captain Jack Harkness. 133 Squadron Royal Airforce - American Volunteer." he said handing me a piece of paper that said his name, that he was single and worked out. I laughed a little.

"Liar." I told him and he paused. "This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me." I told him.

"How do you know?" he asked me sitting back.

"Two things. One - a have a friend who uses this all the time." I told him.

"Ah." he said looking away.

"And two - you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out." I said handing it back to him. Jack leaned forward to take it from me.

"Tricky things, psychic paper." he told me.

"Yeah - can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over." I told him as he took it and he read it.

"Oh, you 'sort of' have a boyfriend but you consider yourself to be a free spirit and willing to try new things." he said reading the paper.

"Wha-" I laughed at him embarrassed.

"Actually, the word you use is 'adventurous'."

"No way..." I told him grinning.

"And another one - 'very'." He said and I stood up.

"Shall we uh... try and get along WITHOUT the psychic paper?" I asked him.

"That would be better, wouldn't it?" he asked also standing.

"Nice spaceship." I told him.

"Gets me around." he said as I looked around.

"Very... Scifi." I said running my hand over the ship. I looked him to try and see a sign of recognition.

"What?" he asked me.

"Guessing you're not a local boy, then." I said.

"A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, and fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades... guessing you're not a local girl." he told me looking at his watch. I moved myself behind him and sat in his pilot seat, examining the spaceship.

"Guessing right." I told him. I reached out to touch something but quickly withdrew my hand, gasping with pain. I looked at my palms and say burn marks on them. This would be the second time my hand's have gotten burned since I traveled with the Doctor. But I would never complain.

"Burn your hands on the rope?" Jack asked me.

"Yeah." I said looking out the window to see London. "We're parked in midair! Can't anyone down there see us?" I asked him.

"No. Can I have a look at your hands for a moment?" he asked me and I gave him a look.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Please?" he asked sitting close to me. I gave him a look and gave him my hands cautiously. He ran some sort of scanner over them.

"You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you are. I can spot a Time Agent a mile away." he told me.

"Time Agent?" I asked him confused by his words.

"I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though, not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?" He asked me sarcastically.

"Sometimes I get swept off my feet. By balloons." I told him smiling. Jack took off his scarf and wrapped it around my wrists. "What're you doing?" I asked him.

"Try to keep still." he told me. He finished binding my hands and leaned over me to switch a button over my head. He caught my eye, very aware of his proximity. There was a bleeping sound and I looked down at my hands to see what looked like tiny golden fireflies appear above the wounds on my hands. "Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here's full of them."

"Amazing." I said watching the nanogenes work their magic on the burns on my hands. Jack switched the button again, and they disappeared.

"They just repaired three layers of your skin." he told me as he unbound my wrists.

"Well, tell them thanks!" I told him laughing. He got up and smiled at me.

"We'll get down to business." he told me.

"Business?" I asked him. He turned to me and was holding a bottle of champagne.

"Shall we have a drink on the balcony?" he asked me. I smiled and looked at my lap as he pressed a button and stepped to the roof lower themselves into the spaceship. Jack started to go up the stairs when he called back to me. "Mind bringing up the glasses?" I looked for the glasses and took them up to the balcony. I ascended the steps holding the glasses unsteadily and looked around. We weren't standing on anything and in front of Big Ben.

"I'm standing on something..." I said looking down at the town below us. Jack chuckled and then took a device out of his pocket. He flicked a switch and his spaceship appeared under our feet. "Okay... you have an invisible spaceship..."

"Yeah..." he told me.

"Tethered up to Big Ben for some reason..." I said looking at the giant clock.

"First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember." he told me popping the cork out of the bottle with a loud bang. I whooped and he laughed while he filled our glasses.

* * *

We sat on the spaceship, drinking the champagne and laughing for what felt like hours when I stood up.

"You know, it's getting a bit late. I should really be getting back." I said looking down at him.

"We're discussing business." he told me.

"This isn't business. This is champagne." I told him smiling and holding my glass up.

"I try never to discuss business with a clear head." he told me standing. I moved back a little and he walked to me. "Are you travelling alone? Are you authorized to negotiate with me?" he asked, suddenly serious.

"What would we be negotiating?" I asked him.

"I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?" he asked again.

"Well, I should talk to my... companion." I told him. The Doctor would know more about whatever he wanted to sell then I would.

"Companion?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I should really be getting back to him." I told him.

"Him?" he asked and I laughed.

"Do you have the time?" I asked. Jack cleared his throat and took the device out of his pocket again. He flicked a switch and Big Ben chimed right next to us. "Okay, that was flash." I said laughing. "That was on the flash side." He moved closer to me and placed his hand on my waist.

"So... when you say 'companion', just how disappointed should I be?" he asked me, flirting. I smiled at him and shook my head.

"Very." his smile fell a little and I looked around us. "So we're standing in midair."

"Mm-hm."

"On a spaceship... during a German air raid... do you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me instead of us talking business?" I asked him. Jack raised my hands and placed his lips on them then smiled.

"Perhaps not." he said before walking away.

"Sorry, but you brought me here to talk business, not flirt." I reminded him.

"Do you like Glenn Miller?" he asked me suddenly, turning back my way. He pointed the device over his shoulder, and 'Moonlight Serenade' played. He walked back to me and we began to slow dance. "It's 1941. The height of the London Blitz. The height of the German Bombing Campaign. And something else has fallen on London - a fully equipped Chula Warship. The last one in existence..." I placed my head on his shoulder thinking of the Doctor. He would probably never dance with me so I decided to enjoy this feeling. "... armed to the teeth." he drew back slightly so we could look at each other properly. "And I know where it is. Because I parked it." I laughed.

"Of course you did." I said.

"If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is gonna fall on it and destroy it forever." he said looking at me seriously. "That's the deadline. That's the deal. And now, shall we discuss payment?"

"Do you know what I think?" I asked him.

"What?" he asked me.

"I think we need to find my companion." I told him.

"Two hours, the bomb falls. There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater." he told me.

"Promises, promises..." I told him. The Doctor and I usually were traveling looking for calm places but that never happened and we probably would both be bored if something exciting didn't happen.

"Are you listening to any of this?" he asked me.

"You used to be a Time Agent, now you're some kind of free lancer." I told him.

"Well, that's a little harsh." he told me pulling me closer. "I like to think of myself as a criminal."

"I bet you do!" I told him laughing.

"So, this companion of yours - does he handle the business?" he asked me.

"Well, I delegate a lot of that to him, yeah." I said, lying through my teeth.

"Well, maybe we should go find him." he suggested and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"And how're you gonna do that?" I asked.

"Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech." he told me using the device on his wrist.

"Finally, a bit more like the movies." I said to myself smiling.

* * *

"Hello?" Jack called into the hospital we'd found the Doctor's sonic screwdriver in.

"Hello?" I called.

"Hello?" I saw the Doctor come into the corridor we were in and walk towards us.

"Good evening. Hope I'm not interrupting - Jack Harkness." Jack said shaking the Doctor's hand. "I've been hearing all about you on the way over."

"He knows. I had to tell him about us being Time Agents." I told the Doctor making sure he got the point we had to play pretending. The Doctor nodded at me then looked back to Jack.

"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr. Smith." Jack pat the Doctor heartily on the shoulder and walked off, leaving the Doctor looking rather bemused at me.

"Mr. Smith?" he asked me.

"What was I supposed to say, you don't have a name! Don't you ever get tired of 'Doctor'?" I asked him.

"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz, it's not a good time for a stroll." he told me.

"Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid." I told him walking in the same direction Jack went.

"What?!" he asked me worry filling his voice.

"Listen, what's a Chula warship?" I asked him and I heard him stop walking.

"Chula?" he asked me.

* * *

I watched from next to the Doctor as Jack scanned one of the bodies lying on a bed.

"This just isn't possible. How could this happen?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor asked him.

"What?" Jack asked him.

"He said it was a warship. He stole it. Parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it - unless WE make him an offer." I told him.

"What kind of warship?" the Doctor asked.

"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this!" Jack said getting agitated.

"This started at the bomb site. It's got EVERYTHING to do with it. What kind of warship?" The Doctor asked angrily.

"An ambulance!" Jack told us going to turn on his wrist device. "Look." he showed us a hologram of the ship. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle - love the retro look, by the way, nice panels - threw you the bait-"

"Bait?" I asked him.

"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk." Jack told us.

"You said it was a WAR ship." I reminded him.

"They have ambulances in wars." Jack said walking away from us, annoyed. "It was a con. I was conning you - that's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?"

"Just a couple more free-lancers." I told him.

"Ahh... should've known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color - I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" Jack asked us. I looked down at my shirt then at the Doctor. "Anyway... whatever's happening here has got NOTHING to do with that ship."

"What IS happening here, Doctor?" I asked looking at the bodies.

"Human DNA's being rewritten... by an idiot." he told me and I looked back at him.

"What d'you mean?" I asked moving to the closest body.

"I dunno - some kind of virus. It's converting human beings into these things." he said nodding at the bodies. "But why? What's the point?" he asked nobody in particular. I bent over one of the bodies, examining it when suddenly, it sit up. I jumped backwards as all the others did the same. They all were calling for one person.**  
**

"Mummy?"

"What's happening?" I asked him.

"I don't know." The Doctor told me as the gas-mask people all got out of bed. The Doctor, Jack and I all got to a clear portion of the wall. The Doctor pushed me behind him and Jack, who was slao behind the Doctor pushed me behind him so I was leaning on the wall.

"Don't let them touch you." The Doctor told us.

"What happens if they touch us?" I asked him.

"You're looking at it." he told me. They were all still chanting 'mummy' as they continued to back us against the wall.


End file.
